The Merry Healer
by saucyferret
Summary: Children all over the world are falling prey to a mysterious illness, the Guardians have no idea how to help them and must enlist the help of a young woman with a special knowledge of healing.
1. Chapter 1

Flora sat curled up in an armchair, sipping hot tea and reading an old leather bound book, the pages brittle on her fingers and yellowing with age. The book of poetry was over one hundred years old, but the words of Henry Van Dyke spoke to her heart in such a way that she could not allow it to collect dust on a shelf. As she mouthed the words to "the Ruby Crowned Kinglet" for what felt like the thousandth time, there came a hard knock on the door. She looked at her watch, read 9:46 pm, and closed her book. She answered the door, perplexed and concerned, to find her downstairs neighbor standing before her with her young daughter in her arms.

"Please, Flora, you have to help." She pleaded, a look of desperation on her tear stained face. Flora stepped aside to allow the woman in, noticing how pale and clammy the child's skin was as she stepped into the light of her apartment.

"Mrs. Flores, I am not a doctor." Flora said softly, directing the woman to lay the child on her kitchen table.

"I know, but you have helped us before, and I cannot afford the hospital," Mrs. Flores said, her voice shaking and cracking as she began to cry again. "Please, just help her. I don't know what is wrong."

Flora laid a hand on the child's forehead, she was cold, but her skin was moist with sweat. She laid her ear to the girl's chest; listening to her ragged breathing she could hear the gurgle of fluid in her lungs. Flora ran to her pantry, grabbing a sachet of dried herbs and smelling salts, a vial of a dark liquid, and a rag. She wet the rag with hot water, and laid it over the sachet on the girl's forehead. She then used an eyedropper to measure three drops of the dark liquid and mix it into a glass of water. Flora pinched the girl's mouth open and poured some of the water down her throat. She shot Mrs. Flores a somber look and walked away, hoping that it was enough.

Hours later the girl woke slowly, crying out softly for her mother. Mrs. Flores burst into hysterical sobs as she ran to her daughter's side, frantically kissing her face and hugging her tight. Flora took the girl's pulse, a little slow but altogether normal. Her skin was no longer clammy, but she shivered in her mother's arms. Flora made the girl finish the glass of water she had prepared with the dark liquid, and gave her mother the vial and a set of strict instructions.

"Keep her warm. Keep her away from other children. Give her three drops of this in a glass of water twice a day. Come back in a week." Flora saw them out, hugging the child and her mother goodbye.

"Really, Flora," Mrs. Flores said, looking as though she might drown herself with her own tears. "I cannot thank you enough. I cannot pay you right now, but I promise I will." Flora shook her head with a soft smile and ushered them out of her apartment, insisting she needed no payment.

This was not the first, nor would it be the last case of this mystery illness Flora sees. Some even came after doctors and specialists could give them no answers, hoping that this "miracle worker" could help. The trouble was that Flora had no idea what she was dealing with; she could only treat the sickness and hope that it would leave on its own. What kind of sickness, she thought, affects only children? Brings on cold sweats and fatigue and in many cases night terrors in children who had never experienced fear in their lives? She consulted every book on illness she had, every diary that had been passed down through her family of healers, every internet source she could find, but no one had any answers. All she knew was that children all over the world were starting to get this same unexplainable illness, and everyone was scared.

"…but, Bubby, that doesn't make any sense." Flora sighed into the receiver, her shoulders hunched over with exhaustion. The mystery illness had been on a rampage for almost two months now, affecting children everywhere in the world, and almost every child in her apartment building was sick. She had called her Great Grandmother, someone with the vastest knowledge of illness and herbs that anyone could comprehend. At Ninety-Seven years old her mind was still sharp, but Flora was beginning to have her doubts. Her Bubby was insisting that the sickness was brought on by the Boogie Man and that only the Man in the Moon could help her.

"Now, Flora," Bubby's voice came soft, her accent curling her words into something comforting and familiar to Flora's ears. "You know your Bubby knows what she's talking about. You remember the stories I told you when you were little?"

"Which one?" Flora pinched the bridge of her nose, she was getting frustrated. "And what does that have to do with what is happening?"

"All of them." Flora could hear her Bubby grinning on the other end, "You know they were all true, and you always believed in them so wholeheartedly."

"Bubby, this has nothing to do with…"

"Shush, just listen, girl."

"Yes, ma'am…" Flora laid her head on the kitchen table, giving up on having a sensible conversation.

"You remember those creatures from when you were little," Bubby began in a low voice, "the spirits and the faeries that I told you about. All children believe in them, and in return they protect children from all evil spirits. Now, I have never seen them, but I know that they are real. So did my mother, and her mother before her. My Grandmother spoke to the moon, Flora." Flora rolled her eyes and groaned.

"You think that might have been because she was crazy, Bubby?" Flora had heard only short mentions on her Great-Great-Great Grandmother. All she really knew about the woman was that they shared the name Flora, but she had never been told why she had been named after such a seemingly obscure family member.

"Well, maybe to folk like your mother," Bubby quipped, Flora's mother had never gotten along with Bubby, she was far too rational a person. She had hated when Flora decided to follow in the footsteps of all of the women before her and become a Cunning Woman, a healer, a midwife, and an herbalist. "But my Grandmother was not crazy; she was wiser than all of us. Just like you she had a talent for healing, and just like you she was a Merry-Begot." Flora straightened up, her brow furrowed.

"A what?"

"A merry-begot, my dear," Bubby explained patiently, "a child conceived on the eve of the Beltane celebrations in spring, blessed by nature." Flora shook her head, that wasn't possible.

"Bubby, my mom never took part in those rituals." Bubby chuckled on the other end of the line.

"Of course she did! Your mother was dedicated to the seasonal celebrations; she only stopped when she found out that she was pregnant." Bubby explained, "Your father was a strapping young man from Dublin, but your mother did not even know his name."

"Oh god…" Flora felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach, but now was not the time for that conversation. "Listen, Bubby, that's…great…but what does that have to do with the kids?"

"Only someone like my Grandmother, someone like you, can talk to the moon. He is the only one who will have the answer."

"Bubby…I am not going to talk to the moon…"

At the North Pole the Guardians found themselves gathered together for the first time since a certain spirit of wintertime, who was currently missing, became a Guardian. Lights all over the globe had started going out, slowly, but noticeably.

"What do you think is causing it?" Toothiana asked, looking back and forth between the Globe and North.

"I do not know…" North said solemnly, watching as another light went out in Europe.

"I do." Jack's voice rang out as he dropped into the workshop. "Kids everywhere are getting sick. None of them can go outside, not even the healthy ones. Whole schools are closing down everywhere."

"But what's causin' it?" Bunnymund asked, but no one had the answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Leaving work at three o'clock in the morning was cold and lonely business, Flora wrapped her shawl tightly around her shoulders and clutched her messenger bag close to her body as she made her way through the empty city streets. It was already April, but this night felt unseasonably cold, and the streetlights gave her little comfort. With a heavy sigh she looked up at the night sky to find a huge, bright full moon looking down on her. She felt her nerves melt away, as though the moon itself warmed her and kept her safe. Flora rolled her eyes at herself and grumbled as she walked across the street to the small park, where no streetlights shone and no one would see her. Looking up at the moon warily, with her arms crossed over her chest, she began to speak.

"Okay, listen, I know this is completely crazy because you obviously can't hear me…" Flora paused, feeling her desperation for the first time, and the weight of it almost crushing her. She choked back hot tears and continued. "…but honestly I don't know what else I can do. I've been able to help some kids, but only so much. This sickness is tearing those kids apart; it's scaring them _and_ their parents. Whole families are losing hope, and it's only a matter of time before everyone does." She looked up at the moon with desperate eyes, hating the helplessness she felt, and hating that she had been reduced to this. "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do? How can I help these kids? My Bubby said that you would have the answers, so tell me something!" The volume of her own voice startled her, as did the tears warming her cold cheeks. Moments of silence that stretched on forever left her feeling inexplicably disappointed, had she really expected the moon to talk to her? How silly.

"Oh, you poor thing," a slimy, snakelike voice came slithering to Flora's ears from a nearby shadow, making her jump. She squinted into the darkness, making out the tall, thin figure of a man.

"What do you want?" She called to him, her voice shaking through her feigned toughness. She reached into her bag and wrapped her hand around the nightstick she carried, just in case. There was a long moment of silence where the man just stood there, watching her. "I can see you, you creep! Either go away or tell me what the hell you want!" The shadowy figure chuckled with delight, and stepped out of the shadows. Flora looked on in confusion at the sickly looking man; his skin was so pale that it reflected the moonlight, his hair and clothes were so dark they blended in with the shadows around him.

"Well, isn't this just delightful?" He grinned with jagged teeth and stepped toward Flora as she took a step backward. "You really can see me, can't you?"

"Of course I can," Flora looked incredulously at the man, "what are you talking about?"

"Tell me, how old are you?" the man asked, leaning forward, his grin widening. Flora grimaced with disgust; he was just getting creepier by the second.

"Old enough to kick your ass if you get any closer." She pulled out her nightstick and turned her body to the side, ready to defend herself. The man looked at her weapon at though it was a child's toy, and laughed heartily.

"Okay then, a guessing game, I do love games." The man hissed as he began to circle Flora. "Are you sixteen? …Eighteen? …Twenty?" His voice became more excited with each progression of years. "Twenty-three?" Flora stiffened slightly when he came to her age, and he noticed instantly. "Aha! Twenty-three then. It's not very often I meet an adult who still believes in the Boogie Man." Flora shook her head in confusion, looking for an opportunity to run. "Oh, I wouldn't try to run if I were you." Suddenly the man seemed to disappear into the shadows, but then Flora felt his hot breath on her neck when he spoke again. "You see, you can't outrun fear." Flora felt an icy cold sensation run up her spine as her heart began to race and she swung around to hit the man with her weapon. She felt her whole body begin to shake when there was no impact, but the man remained before her.

"W-what…are you?" Flora asked shakily as she backed away, dropping her apparently useless weapon. The man smiled at her, apparently very pleased with himself.

"I told you already…"

Out of nowhere, cutting him off and sending them both flying head over heels, a gust of frigid cold wind. Flora landed in the arms of something soft and warm as she watched the dark man land on the hard ground, though not for long.

"Aye! Watch what you're doin' ya gumbi!" The soft strong something holding her called out to someone unseen. Flora lifted her eyes to see a face that was covered with fur; in fact it looked a lot like a rabbit's face. Of course that was impossible. The face looked down at her with emerald eyes full of concern, and it was the face of a rabbit, and it spoke to her with a soft voice. "You alright, Sheila?"

Flora instantly felt fear and panic rage trough her as she let out a blood curdling scream and began frantically trying to release herself from the monster's grasp. She heard it call out to someone named Sandy, asking for help and suddenly she felt herself grow tired. She fought to keep her eyes open as her limbs grew too heavy to hold up and her vision began to blur, but she quickly lost her fight and succumbed to the darkness that overtook her.

"Bunny, are you sure she saw you?" Toothiana asked as the man sized rabbit gently laid the girl's limp body on a couch in a quieter part of North's workshop.

"She tried to rip my bloody ears off," he insisted, "so yeah, I'm sure."

"Yeah," Jack Frost joked from a corner, "I mean with that face, who wouldn't be scared?" Bunnymund shot the frosty spirit a glare over his shoulder.

"Rack off, will ya?" He snapped.

"Do you think that's why she was there with Pitch?" Tooth wondered, "Because she could actually see him?" Sandy nodded and North shook his head solemnly.

"But how can someone who is not a child still see us?" North asked aloud, but the room remained silent.

Flora could hear soft voices around her, unfamiliar voices and accents, as she slowly regained consciousness. She became acutely aware that she was not in her bed, but on a couch. Had she fallen asleep watching TV? That would explain the ridiculous dream she had had; something about the Boogie Man and a giant Rabbit. She hated sleeping with the TV on so she forced herself to open her eyes, but instantly shut them again as tightly as she could. The room she had seen when she opened her eyes was not her living room, and there were people all around her. She hoped that it was just a dream within a dream and willed herself to wake up for real, but when she opened her eyes again she was greeted by the jolly face of a very large bearded man who greeted her with a loud, booming Russian accent.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" He grinned at her happily, waiting for her to respond. After a moment she slowly opened her mouth to respond.

"Good…morning…" she nearly whispered, a little scared, and very confused. The large Russian man threw his head back with a burst of joyous laughter and lifted her off of the couch as though she was a doll.

"So, it is true!" He said, bringing her in for a bear hug, "It is wonderful to meet you! Tell us, what is your name?"

"Umm…" Flora hesitated, looking around at the room to find a strange group of people who she wasn't sure were actually people. "F-flora…Baker…" She said absently, and then her eyes landed on a figure in the corner with grey fur, staring at her with familiar green eyes. Flora realized very suddenly that she was not dreaming, and she felt herself becoming weak. The giant Russian placed her on her feet and she stumbled slightly, her knees trembling and her head light. She sat back down on the couch and studied each person in the room with disbelief. One very large, very friendly, Russian man with "Naughty" and "Nice" tattooed on his overly large forearms, his long white beard and hair hid his face, revealing only glowing blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Beside him woman, smiling down at her with concern, her body covered with iridescent green feathers, and wings beating faster than a hummingbird's to hold her hovering in the air. Behind them a boy, pale skin, snow white hair, and icy blue eyes, holding a staff and looking on curiously. Beside him a short man, who looked as though he was made of golden sand. Finally, off in a corner, looking on cautiously, was the man sized rabbit looking almost scared.

"You look so scared," the pale boy said, approaching her with an outstretched hand, "I know this has got to be weird for you, but I promise none of us will hurt you." He smiled and offered her a hand, which she took hesitantly, surprised by how cold it was. "I'm Jack Frost," he said nonchalantly, "the huge guy who has no sense of personal space is North, or you would know him as Santa Claus." The grinning Russian nodded his confirmation.

"I'm Toothiana," The woman said softly from over Jack's shoulder, "the tooth fairy." The little golden man stepped forward, tugging on North's pant leg and pointing to himself.

"Oh, of course," North chuckled, motioning to the little man, "this is the Sandman, call him Sandy." Sandy smiled up at Flora and shook her hand excitedly, leaving a little bit of golden sand on her palm, which she stared at for a moment incredulously. This was almost too much for her to handle.

"And that sourpuss in the corner," Jack motioned toward the rabbit man, who shot the boy a dirty look, "is the Easter Kangaroo. He's just afraid that you're gonna freak out again if he gets too close."

"Easter Bunny!" The rabbit stood up straight, towering over Jack as he hopped over to the boy and stared him down. "We've been over this, frostbite. I'm a bunny." Flora looked on in confusion, she felt sick with nerves, and she was afraid she might vomit. "And I'm not scared of anything." He turned toward Flora, looking almost as nervous she was, and jabbed a paw toward her, keeping his body as far from her as possible. "E. Aster Bunnymund at your service."

"You look more uncomfortable than I feel." Flora said, looking up at Bunnymund and realizing how thankful she was. "I'm sorry I freaked out, I thought I was losing my mind…not that I'm one hundred percent convinced that I'm not…but thank you for saving me." She smiled up at him, feeling herself relax unexpectedly as he relaxed and smiled back at her.

"Ah, it was nothin'" Bunnymund said, waving it off nonchalantly and smiling. Flora nodded and took a deep breath, telling herself that whatever was happening was happening - whether it was a dream, or she was going crazy, or even if it was real - and there was nothing she could do about it at this point. Another deep breath and she looked around at the smiling faces that surrounded her, it wasn't so scary. It was definitely extremely weird, but not actually scary.

"Okay…so…does anyone wanna tell me where I am and why?" Flora asked, looking around at the dark wood and sturdy architecture of the room they were in.

"Yes!" North boomed excitedly, "Come, I show you!" He lifted Flora off of the couch and led her by her shoulders out of the quiet room and into an enormous factory, buzzing with life. She stared with eyes wide open and filled with wonder as she watched large hairy creatures building all sorts of amazing and imaginative toys, and tiny creatures running about causing trouble with little bells jingling atop their heads. She whipped around to see North smiling down at her affectionately, and when he spoke his voice was soft for the first time. "Welcome," he said, "to the North Pole." Flora looked at him with pleading eyes and he nodded, giving her permission to step out onto the floor of the factory on her own.

Flora felt her heart fluttering with excitement inside her chest as she watched the working yetis and mischievous elves go about their business. She spun around at every turn, trying desperately to see everything. It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life, and if filled her heart with joy to be there. She wondered if any people ever got to see this place, and she counted herself vastly lucky to be there. She found herself wishing and hoping with all of her soul that it was real, and by extension that the people she had just met were real. She felt the warmth and giddiness of sheer excitement fill the pit of her stomach, and she could not help but let out a burst of joyous laughter. When she turned around next she saw North, Santa Claus, smiling at her with approving eyes. She rushed to him and hugged him around his vast belly, laughing when her arms did not reach all the way around.

"This is amazing!" Flora felt her face beginning to ache, and realized that she could not stop smiling. "You have no idea how happy I am that this…that _you_ are real!" North lifted her into a bear hug and they both laughed.

"Now, Flora," North said as he set her back down, "come with me." He led her through the workshop, with the others close behind, to a higher level where a large globe with flickering lights covering its surface spun in the center. Flora looked on as North motioned to the globe and explained, "These lights represent children who believe in us, and it is our job to protect these children…" his expression became solemn, "…but recently the lights have started going out. We know it has something to do with this Nightmare Sickness, and we are sure that Pitch Black has something to do with it."

"Pitch Black?" Flora wondered out loud.

"Yeah, the Boogie Man," Jack chimed in, "that guy you were talking to last night. He has been trying to take over for hundreds of years, luckily we've been able to stop him so far, but this is…so different. We're not sure what to do." Flora looked at the somber faces around her and hung her head.

"Well, I wish I could help you," Flora sighed helplessly, "but I've barely been able to help the kids that come to me. All I can do is fight the symptoms, unless we can find out what exactly is causing it, I can't do much else." She lifted her head to see all eyes on her, looking curious and confused. "What?"

"You protect children?" Tooth asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Well…y-yeah…" Flora explained, "I'm a healer. I use herbs to heal sick children, mostly I do it for families who can't afford a doctor. I mean…it wouldn't feel right to make money off of it, so I just let the families pay me with any food they can spare once in a while." The looks she was getting were starting to make her nervous. "W-what? Someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Well," Jack began, "last night the Man in the Moon led us to where you were. We thought it was so we could catch Pitch, but maybe it was because we needed your help just as much you needed ours."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Look, I think you've made a mistake," Flora said, hanging her head, "I just told you, I haven't been able to help any of the children. I have looked everywhere, researched every known sickness, and I can't find anything."

"Maybe it's not a known sickness," Bunny suggested, "If Pitch is causing it, then maybe it's just a matter of figuring out how." Flora mulled this over in her head, treating symptoms was one thing, but curing a disease was something else entirely. If she was going to go along with this she would need all kinds of supplies, and she would need to know exactly what pitch is using to infect the children. Figuring out Pitch's plan of action sounded much easier said than done, however, and she wasn't sure she was ready to face the dark man again.

"Okay…" she said hesitantly, "but how will we do that? Somehow I don't see him just telling us what he's doing to the kids." Everyone looked down, thinking as quickly as they could, and Jack was the first to speak up.

"Why don't we talk to a kid?" He suggested, "One who might have been around others who were infected." Flora nodded, it was a place to start. "Jamie Bennett is a friend of ours," Jack explained, his tone suddenly becoming sad, "his little sister is infected." There was a sharp intake of breath throughout the room, and Bunny approached Jack with a look of worry.

"Sophie? The little ankle biter?" He suddenly became angry, "Why the heck didn't you tell us sooner?!"

"I wanted to help her," Jack snapped back at Bunny, "not make everyone worry even more. I figured the faster we find a cure the sooner we can help her, and getting everyone worked up is not going to help us help her!" Flora watched with curious eyes as Bunny clenched his fists and Jack stood his ground, there was obviously some serious tension between these two already, and this Sophie girl seemed important to both of them.

"I want to meet Jamie...I think I can help his sister…" Flora spoke softly, hoping they heard her but not wanting to get in between the staring contest the two hot headed guardians were having.

"Good!" North spoke up loudly, placing giant palms on Flora's shoulders and leading her to an old metal elevator. "To the sleigh!"

"To the what?"

::::::::::

Deep underground, in a stone chamber, shadowy and dark, the Nightmare King laughed joyously to himself. He had managed to evade the Guardians last night when they interrupted his conversation with the sweet girl—no, the woman—he had found. It was absolutely delectable to know that someone so mature could see him, hear him, and fear him. It was almost arousing, the thought of her body shaking with terror before him. He licked his lips at the thought, wondering how he could get her back from those goody-goody Guardians. The belief of a child was one thing, they rarely needed proof of anything to believe in it, but an adult who believed added certain strength to his power. The trouble would be in keeping her scared, which was the part he looked forward to most.

::::::::::

The sleigh, to Flora's sheer horror, was actually driven by intimidating animals nothing like the image of Rudolph that was in her head. As she approached the sleigh she hoped that it wasn't actually going to leave the ground. Jack, from aboard the sleigh, reached out a hand to help her up, smiling at her warmly.

"You look almost as nervous as Bunny," He joked as he lifted her up, nodding toward Bunny who was already sitting low in his seat, clutching the wood with white knuckles, his ears pressed flat against his head.

"Why is he so scared?" Flora asked, praying that the answer was not what she thought it was.

"He hates flying." Jack answered with a chuckle. Flora felt her head grow light, her stomach sinking to the floor. Flying in a plane was scary enough, but this was no plane. It was an open air carriage with no landing gear and no wings.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." She said, sitting between Bunnymund and Jack, feeling safest as far from the edges as she could get. She felt around for something to hold her down, or something to grip onto, and began to panic when she found nothing. She heard watched as North took his seat at the reigns and her heart leapt into her throat, beating a mile a minute. When the sleigh took off she began to scream, unconsciously grabbing onto the closest things at her disposal, Bunny and Jack. Her fear only increased as the bumps in the tunnel sent her flying out of her seat, and when she saw blue sky at the end of the tunnel she shut her eyes as tightly as she could, beginning to cry. She clenched her teeth as she felt the sleigh leave the ground, and braced herself. A minute passed and nothing happened, and finally she heard Jack's voice in her ear, soft and soothing.

"It's okay, Flora," he cooed, placing a cold hand on the hand she had gripping his shoulder. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around; Jack was smiling at her brightly. Taking a deep breath Flora lifted her hand from his shoulder, "look at Bunny." Jack sniggered, pointing at the poor rabbit who sat still with a look of terror on his face. Flora giggled, slowly letting go of Bunny's arm as she felt herself relax.

"Bunny," Flora leaned over and began stroking the top of Bunny's head, his fur was silky soft under her fingers. "Look, even I've calmed down." She smiled at him when he turned his head slightly to look her over. "It's not so bad once we're in the air, right?" She began scratching his head, then behind his ear and under her chin, which he responded to instantly as his eyes rolled back in his head and his body relaxed. He even started kicking involuntarily, like a dog when you get that special spot. It only lasted a few moments, though, before he shooed her hand away like a fly.

"Don't do that!" He snapped at Flora, making her draw back quickly.

"I-I'm sorry," Flora looked down at her hands, "that was out of line, I won't do it again. I promise." Jacked wrapped an arm around Flora's shoulders and pulled her away from Bunny.

"Don't worry about him," he said, exchanging a subtle look with the pooka, "he's always in a bad mood." Sandy looked on with disapproval and shook his finger at Jack, who shrugged and laughed, acting like he had no idea what the silent little man was saying.

::::::::::

It was still light out when they landed in the woods outside of Jamie's town, so Flora decided to see if any parents were willing to talk to her. Most were eager to help a member of a research team searching for a cure, and after a day of interviews she began to notice a pattern that had not occurred to her before. There was only one sick child per household, no matter how many children lived in the house, and it was always the youngest. Flora wrote down the recipe for her detoxifying formula for any family that would take it, at the very least it would stave off the physical symptoms, but there was nothing she could do about the night terrors all of the children were having. It made her heart ache to see all of these families hurting, but it only strengthened her resolve. She would do everything within her power to help these children, and every sick child in the world.

When night fell, and the Sandman went off to bring sweet dreams to the children of the world, Flora and the remaining Guardians crept into Jamie Bennett's bedroom through the window. Jack woke the boy, who grinned and jumped with excitement when he saw the familiar faces before him. When he saw Flora he paused and looked her over.

"You're…not a Guardian." He stated, raising a questioning eyebrow at Jack.

"Well, not technically," Jack explained, "but she is here to help. We think she can make Sophie better." Hope filled Jamies eyes as he looked back at Flora.

"Really?" He said excitedly, jumping off of his bead and running up to her. "Can you really help my sister?"

"I hope so," Flora said, kneeling down to look the boy in the eye, "but I need your help, Jamie. I need you to tell me everything you know about how your sister got sick." Jamie nodded eagerly. "Okay, so just start from the beginning, when she actually started acting sick."

"It was a month ago," Jamie began, "I remember because Sophie woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She woke up everyone, but when mom and dad went to check on her they said it was just a dream. She still wanted to sleep with me. She kept saying that a monster bit her, she even showed me this big bruise on her shoulder. It looked like tooth marks to me, but mom and dad said they didn't see anything when I told them about it." Flora exchanged a worried look with the others as Jamie continued. "The she started having bad dreams every night. She would wake up screaming, saying a monster was chasing her, trying to eat her. Soon mom said I couldn't be around her anymore, and now the only time Sophie is awake is when she's too scared to sleep."

The air in the room weighed heavy with sadness, but for the first time in months Flora felt a glimmer of hope. She thanked Jamie for his help, told him to go back to bed and that his sister would be better soon. As the group made their way back toward the sleigh Flora began to speak, giving directions firmly and with absolute confidence.

"I need someone to stay here and watch Sophie, we need to know exactly what is happening while these kids are sleeping." Bunnymund volunteered without hesitation, not surprising Flora. She exchanged a quick look with him, hoping he understood what she willed her eyes to say. _'please be careful'_ and when he nodded with a soft smile she knew he did. "North," she rounded on the large Russian man, "I need to get home. Jack," she whirled around to face the boy, "do we have any idea where we can find Pitch?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Bunnymund sat in the window to Sophie's bedroom, absentmindedly twirling his boomerang as his thoughts wandered. Her face overtook his thoughts, even as he fought against it, the thought of Flora's smiling face and the warm touch of her hand flooded his mind. He tried so hard to send the images away, to keep them hidden at the back of his mind, but found it to be nearly impossible. She was not ugly, after all, with her wild hair the color of ripe pumpkins and autumn brown eyes that sparkled when she smiled. No, he scolded himself, physically shaking the images out of his head; this was not the time or the place. He had a job to do, and it was important that he did it right. He looked over at Sophie's sleeping form, shivering despite the layers of blankets wrapped around her little body. She started whimpering, as though having a nightmare, and tossed and turned in her bed.

Bunnymund watched helplessly as the little girl suffered, wishing there was something he could do to ease her fear, when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked into the shadows just outside the reach of the little girl's nightlight, and he saw a dark form writhing and taking shape. It stepped into the light, and Bunny's eyes grew wide with shock and anger. Bunny found himself staring down his mirror image, eyes glowing red and body black as night, but there was no mistake.

"Who are you?" Bunny growled, readying his boomerangs as he positioned himself in between his dark self and Sophie. The Dark Bunnymund looked over the real one slowly before leaping out the window. Bunny quickly followed his dark double out into the night, only to find Pitch Black waiting for him. "What was that, Pitch?!" Bunny demanded, pointing his boomerang at the Nightmare king threateningly.

"Oh, you don't like my new friend?" Pitch grinned, motioning for Dark Bunny to come out of the shadows. "The likeness is uncanny, isn't it? He's not quite at your level yet, but give it a few more nights."

"What are you planning?" Bunny hissed, glaring at his dark self.

"I am planning to make every child in the world _fear_ the Guardians." Pitch gloated, "And it is working rather well. My night terrors are far more powerful than the nightmares you had the pleasure of meeting before, and even better they take on the shape of whatever the dreamer loves the most." He motioned to his dark companion and smiled. "Little Sophie seems to adore you…too bad that as she dreams you attack her viciously every night."

"No!" Bunnymund hurled his boomerang at Pitch with all his might, but his dark double jumped in the way, absorbing the blow. Dark Bunny then hurled the boomerang back at him in an identical attack. Bunny was able to catch it, but when he turned back around both dark creatures had disappeared. Bunny sniffed the air and angled his ears to locate the Nightmare King, hoping that he was not yet gone. "We _will_ stop you, Pitch!" He called into the darkness, hoping that Pitch's pride would make him respond.

"I don't see how," his voice rang all around Bunny, who listened intently to find where it was coming from. "You can't do anything about my Nightmare Sickness. There is no cure. Each child will be drained until their fears become real, and then they will no longer be bothered to wake up."

"That's why we've got Flora," Bunny smirked, finally pinpointing Pitch. "She's going to find a cure. She was already helping kids get better, and now she has us to help her."

"Flora? Is that her name?" Pitch stepped out of the shadows just as Bunny threw his boomerang, barely dodging the attack. "That…delicious creature I had the pleasure of meeting last night? Such a delicate name…how fitting." Pitch went flying to the ground as the boomerang came back around, smashing into the back of his head. Bunny caught it with a smirk and walked over to Pitch, standing above him with a threatening stare. He held the boomerang to his throat and looked into the man's yellow eyes.

"How are you infecting the kids?" Bunny demanded, putting a heavy foot on Pitch's chest.

"It's not hard to spread fear," Pitch smiled knowingly at Bunny, "all it takes is one bad dream."

Suddenly Bunny felt someone grab him by the ears and toss him into a nearby building, and before he could get back to his feet he was being beaten mercilessly back into the ground. By the time he finally managed to block an incoming blow and strike back he was bleeding onto the sidewalk. He slowly stood and found himself facing his dark double, who quickly regained his footing and began throwing punches again. This time Bunny was ready, blocking his own techniques, trying to find his own weaknesses. He was able to strike Dark Bunny a few times, but the evil creature would not stop coming at him and Bunnymund was growing tired. As a last resort Bunny tossed one of his egg bombs at his doppelganger, using the opportunity to jump into a hole and head off to find the others.

Pitch called to his Night Terror, waving it away. The rabbit was doing exactly what he wanted, leading him to the girl. If what the pooka had said was true then it would be essential to get to her as soon as possible, he couldn't let her interfere with his plans.

::::::::::

Flora ran into her apartment, closely followed by North, Tooth, and Jack, all of whom began investigating her home curiously. She went straight to the kitchen and pulled multiple herbal books off of the shelves and tossed them onto the kitchen table. She bolted to her bedroom and pulled out her Great-Great Grandmother's herbal diary, leafing through it to find her notes on insomnia and nightmares. She took it to the kitchen and grabbed a history book off of the bookshelf in her living room as she went. When she had all of her books laid out and open to specific pages she turned to the others to find them leafing through her things.

"What are you doing?" she asked, apparently surprising them because they all dropped the things they were looking at. She watched her Henry Van Dyke poetry book hit the floor and gasped, running to grab it. North smiled apologetically when she shot him a dirty look. "We have a lot of research to do, guys. I need to know how Pitch infected the children, what he infected them with, and how it's transmitted. I also need to know why it only affects the youngest child of each family."

"We're sorry, Flora," Tooth apologized with a soft smile and flew into the kitchen to start looking over the books. Jack jumped off the couch with a sigh and joined her, apparently completely unenthusiastic about the idea of research. North hung his head and followed after Jack, Flora was about to join him when there was a tap on her window. She ran to open it when she saw Sandy frantically waving at her from the other side.

"Sandy, what's wrong?" She asked and he pointed at the ground where, under a streetlight sat the limp body of a large grey rabbit. "Oh my god, Bunny!" Flora instantly ran out of her apartment, calling to North for help, and nearly flew to Bunny's side. His face was swollen and bleeding in multiple places, and his breathing was ragged. He was barely conscious, but seemed to respond when Flora touched his face. North lifted the pooka into his arms and carried him up to the apartment, where Flora frantically collected leaves off of the plants growing in her kitchen window, and broke a leaf off of the Aloe plant by her sink. She grabbed an ice pack from her freezer and bottle of apple cider vinegar from her pantry. North laid Bunny on the couch and Flora knelt beside him, her mind and heart racing.

Using a cotton ball she applied the vinegar to Bunny's open wounds to disinfect and help ease the swelling. Then she applied aloe to the sores and wounds and pressed Prunella leaves onto each wound, wrapping them up with gauze from a first aid kit. Finally she laid the ice pack over his swollen left eye and placed a pillow beneath his head. All they could do now was wait for him to wake up, but the tension hung thick in the air, making Flora unable to concentrate on her research. As she sat at the table, her head in her hands as she forced herself to read each word over and over again, she could not help but glance over at Bunny at the slightest hint of movement. She could not help but feel guilty for his current condition. She was the one who asked him to stay behind, if she hadn't had him stay there alone this would have never happened.

"It's not your fault," Tooth laid a comforting hand on Flora's shoulder, hovering beside her. "We don't know what happened yet, but this is not on you, Flora." Flora nodded, but she did not feel any relief.

"I don't know about you, Tooth," Jack chimed in from the living room, "but I think she has every right to be worried. I mean…_I'm_ worried." The boy looked over at the pooka with sad eyes, "When has Bunny every looked like this after a fight? No one can beat on Bunny like that…something must have happened…" Flora choked back a sob, feeling a knot form in her throat as she tried desperately not to cry. Jack must have noticed because he instantly changed his tune, "Hey, look, Bunny can hold his own. He'll be fine." Sandy yawned and stretched, tossing the others a suggestive look.

"Sandy is right." North boomed, standing from the kitchen table and knocking a chair to the ground. "We should all get some rest. In the morning Bunny will wake up and we will all feel better." Flora nodded, biting her bottom lip and looking down at the floor.

_Rrriiiinng rrriiinng rrriiinng_

Flora jumped and ran to grab her cell phone out of the messenger bag she had thrown down by the door. She managed to answer the call before it went to voicemail, and more importantly before it woke Bunny, but she instantly regretted answering it. Her boss was on the other end, yelling angrily into her ear.

"Yes, ma'am…" Flora spoke with her back to the others, who looked on in confusion. "No…I know…it won't happen again…yes…I'm sorry…I will be there…" The phone beeped as her boss hung up, and Flora let out a heavy sigh. She turned back to the room to find the others staring at her. "It was my boss." She explained in a low voice filled with despair. "I missed work tonight. I completely forgot about it…if I don't show up tomorrow I'm going to be fired…" She groaned and hung her head as she walked past everyone to grab pillows and blankets from the linen closet. Flora's heart was heavy in her chest; she could feel all hope slipping away as she thought about all of the things that were going wrong. She told herself that she should have just gone straight home the other night. She told herself that she never should have listened to her Bubby. She told herself that there was no way that this was going to work itself out.

After getting everyone settled, which turned out to be a long and exhausting process as North begged for milk and cookies, Tooth kept everyone up because she was giving direction to her baby teeth, and Jack did not want to sleep at all, Flora dragged her heavy body into her bedroom. She collapsed onto her bed without even changing out of her clothes, which she had been wearing now for two days. It wasn't long before she was dreaming, but her dreams were no relief.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Pitch smiled down at the girl sleeping in the same clothes she had been wearing when they met, she looked exhausted even as she rested. He raised his hand to his face and watched with loving eyes as his fingers extended into black points, poisonous barbs which he inserted just under the skin in her shoulder. The toxin took effect almost immediately, making the girl toss her body violently, fighting the coming nightmare. As she turned to her side the black barb of his finger broke off, making him pull back in pain. He shook it off quickly, though, seeing how completely the girl succumbed to the fear now inside her. Her whole body shook, and her face contorted with pain and terror. The Nightmare King found himself feeling truly powerful as he stood over her, knowing that in that moment she was his.

::::::::::

_A sunny day, the laughter of children in the distance, the scent of Lavender in the air, and a small girl with wild orange hair rolling in the tall grass of a meadow. The dew drops soaked her clothes, the sun warmed her face, and the small basket in her hand was empty. It was Easter Sunday and her mother had insisted that she take part in the egg hunt, but unlike the other children she knew better than to think Easter was all about eggs and candy. Her Bubby and Granny had taught her better, and tonight she would join them, skyclad around the Ostara altar, to welcome spring. It was her favorite time of year, with the return of the sun and the flowers, and the rebirth of the world._

_ Out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement, so she rolled onto her belly and peaked through the blades of green curiously. There it was again! Something was moving about in the tall grass, and moving rather quickly. Determined to find out what it was she crawled, slowly and quietly, through the grass. It wasn't long before she came upon a small area of flattened grass, wherein she saw something she never thought she would see._

_ "The Easter Bunny!" She whispered to herself, watching as the giant grey rabbit hid some colorful eggs just on the edges of the flat patch. His ears twitched in her direction and he turned quickly to see her watching him. At first the girl smiled at him, knowing that the Easter Bunny was someone who protected children and brought spring, but suddenly something changed. The pooka's eyes turned from grassy green to a crimson red, and his fur darkened to a pitch black. The girl gasped and fell back as he started toward her, smiling menacingly as he reached out to her._

_ The girl screamed and ran, stumbling through the tall grass as the world grew dark around her. The sun disappeared and the grass wilted, when she looked over her shoulder the giant rabbit had doubled in size and followed after her, laughing as she tried desperately to escape. As she reached the edge of a dark wood she felt his giant hand wrap itself around her tiny body and lift her off of the ground. She clawed desperately at the mammoth hand, trying to escape his grasp as he brought her up to his face, opened his mouth and brought his gargantuan teeth down in her neck._

::::::::::

The sound of her own scream woke Flora and the overwhelming feeling of dread made her heart race. She felt cold, but her whole body was soaked with sweat. After a few long minutes spent calming herself down Flora looked over at her clock, read 8:30 am, and got out of bed. She told herself it was a bad dream, the whole thing. The sick children, the Boogie Man, the Guardians, and Bunnymund were all a dream that turned bad. She grabbed a towel out of the linen closet and headed to the bathroom to take a shower, but she did not make it to the bathroom before she noticed that there were people sleeping all over her living room floor. The feeling of dread returned, though only a shadow of what she had felt upon waking, and it dissipated quickly as the last day's events returned to her.

She looked with mixed feelings at the pooka sleeping on the couch, folding her arms over her chest and furrowing her brow as her heart grew heavy with sadness. The Bunny in her nightmare was not the same Bunny that lay there on her couch, whose fur clumped with dried blood from a fight with the Nightmare King. The Bunny who lay before her had saved her from Pitch, he brought joy and hope to children, and he protected all who needed protecting. She adored the Bunny who lay before her. No, it was not the same Bunny at all. Flora smiled to herself and went to take a shower, shaking her head and sniggering at the loud snoring coming out of North. Everything about that man was loud.

Flora stood in front of the bathroom mirror while she let the water of her shower heat up; she looked herself over and sighed. Two days with no maintenance had taken a toll on her. Her hair resembled a bird's nest, her skin was sallow and sticky, and her eyes had dark circles under them. Getting ready for work today would be a long and hard process. Pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows at herself she began to undress, but once her shirt was off she noticed a dark spot on her shoulder and stopped dead. Leaning toward the mirror to investigate she noticed that there appeared to be something under her skin. Flora pulled a razor blade out of her medicine cabinet and made a small incision in the darkened patch of skin, then pushed against the foreign object to squeeze it out of her shoulder, like one would remove a splinter. The process was agonizing; the dark patch was apparently a bruise and it hurt just to touch. Once the blood covered object was out of her shoulder Flora placed it on a paper towel and looked it over curiously. It looked like a black needle, or barb from a porcupine.

Once finished with her shower Flora wrapped herself in a towel and brought the object into the kitchen, stepping carefully around the sleeping forms which littered her living room floor. She took a picture with her phone and sent it to her mother, a Veterinarian, who would know what it was if it had come from an animal.

"Oh, Crikey," Flora started when she heard the familiar voice and instantly ran to Bunny's side. "I feel like I got hit by a bus." Bunny sat up on the couch, clutching his head in his hands. Flora sat beside him on the couch and placed a hand on his arm.

"Bunny…" she breathed his name with relief, feeling an overwhelming sense of joy fill her from the core. "I'm so glad you're okay." She smiled warmly as he turned his head to look at her, but his weak smile faded when he notice the bruise on her shoulder.

"What happened?" He asked angrily, hoping she had not had another encounter with Pitch while he slept. Flora followed his gaze to her shoulder and covered it with her hand, feeling slightly ashamed.

"It's nothing," She said reassuringly, "just a bruise. It was there when I woke up; I probably just bumped into something last night." She smiled brightly at the pooka, who nodded and looked down and noticed for the first time that the girl beside him was only wearing a towel. His eyes grew wide and he felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he hurriedly looked away. Flora looked down at herself and laughed nervously, realizing how uncomfortable Bunny must be. "Sorry, I saw you were awake and I just…anyway, since you are awake, why don't you go take a shower? It will make you feel better." She stood and took his paw in her hand, leading him to the linen closet where she handed him a towel and a bottle of horse hair shampoo. "The bottle in there is almost gone and I figure you'll need a lot more than I do." Flora explained at his confused look. She then ushered him into the bathroom, started the shower, and was about to leave when she noticed his helpless look. "Okay," she said, realizing he was probably unfamiliar with this process. "Take off your bandages and your stuff," she motioned to the leather strap across his chest, "get in, get wet, apply the shampoo to every place that has hair, lather, and rinse. When you're done use the towel to dry off."

Flora left Bunny alone in the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and hoping that he was not so clueless that he could not figure out how to wash himself. She chuckled at the thought and went to her room to get dressed. Clean and comfortable clothes came as a sweet relief, she had never appreciated oversized sweatpants, sports bras, and wife-beater tank tops as much as she did the moment she was dressed in them today. She pulled her wild hair back, realized how obvious it made her bruise, and let it fall back over her shoulders.

As she stepped out of her room Flora heard a loud crash in the bathroom. She burst in and pulled back the shower curtain to find a soaking wet, soapy Bunny glaring up at her. She could not hold in the burst of laughter that left her lips as she looked down at him, but she did her best to hold it in while she helped Bunny to his feet. As he stood Flora couldn't help but notice how his fur laid flat against his skin, making his manlike form more noticeable. She could see his rippling muscles for the first time and felt her face grow hot with embarrassment, praying he did not notice the redness in her cheeks. Once he was on his feet, and had assured her that he wouldn't fall again, Flora scurried out of the bathroom like a mouse. When she exited the bathroom she was greeted by curious eyes from all over her living room.

"Bunny is getting cleaned up…" she explained, keeping her head down to hide her beet red face. "He slipped because of the soap, but he's okay." To her relief she heard her phone go off in the kitchen and ran to read the text, just to get away from the stares. The text was from her mother.

"_I don't see anything, what are you talking about?"_

Flora read the text over and over, and then opened the picture on her phone to make sure it was clear. The object was there, clear as day. A black spine against a white background was impossible to miss. Then something that Jamie had said rang through her head and she suddenly felt sick.

"Flora?" Tooth peaked into the kitchen to find the girl with her head down on the table, buried in her arms. Beside her on the table sat her cell phone and a small black spine on a paper towel, and her shoulders were shaking with heavy violent sobs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Flora, where are you going?" Tooth asked, grabbing the girl's arm as she tried to storm out of the apartment. Flora ripped her arm out of Tooth's grasp and rounded on the fairy with rage in her eyes.

"I am going to work!" She boomed, making the room fall silent. It had been buzzing for hours with everyone's ideas about how Pitch had infected her and why, but no one could figure out what to do about it. She was frustrated, angry at herself for letting it happen, and tearing herself apart inside with the guilt that raged within her. How could she help any of the sick children if she couldn't help herself? "Unlike all of you this whole _adventure_ is not the center of my universe! When this is over you all can go back to your magical world, but I will still be here! Alone! The world will go on without me and I will _still_ have to pay rent! So, _I_ am going to _work_!" She stormed out the door, slamming it behind herself just in time to hide the tears that she could no longer hold back.

The feeling inside of Flora's apartment was one of helplessness and shame as everyone hung their heads, their shoulders weighing heavy with Flora's words. The first to recover was Bunny, lifting his head with a look of determination. He stomped over to the books that were still strewn across the kitchen table, sat down, and started reading the closest book to him.

"I don't know why you all are just sittin' around." He called to the others, not looking up from his book. "Pitch is still out there, and now the only one who can help us is sick. We need to help her in any way we can." Sandy nodded and scurried over to the kitchen, grabbing a book to stick his nose in, followed closely by the others who all smiled at Bunny softly. He was so focused on his book, so determined to help the girl who had helped him. What they didn't know was that Bunny was also driven by guilt, knowing in his heart that Pitch had followed him back to the apartment. Knowing that it was his fault that Flora was now sick, it tore him apart.

::::::::::

In the basement of a small building, past a pair of bouncers and a ticket booth, there was a dimly lit room where men sat at small tables, holding drinks in their hands and waiting anxiously for the show to begin. Flora stood behind the curtain in her first costume of the night with two other girls; she had done the routine a dozen times today, having gotten to the club multiple hours ahead of the other girls. Dancing was a form of meditation for her, it helped her release all of her tension, sweat out anything bad in her body, and clear her mind. Still there were so many thoughts racing through her mind. She felt bad for the way she had left the others; she should not have taken out her anger and frustration on them.

The music began and a voice came over the speakers to introduce them as the lights in the house faded to black. Flora was unprepared for her sudden fear of darkness, her heart started racing in the moments before the stage lights came on. A few deep breaths to calm her beating heart and the show began.

Burlesque dancing was probably the best possible job Flora could have found when she came to the city. It paid better than most other jobs that she was qualified to do, she never had to deal directly with customers, and despite the stigma she never had to remove a single article of clothing. She went to work every night knowing she would have fun, and even if she didn't she was guaranteed to make enough money to make up for it.

After the first number Flora ran backstage to change into her next costume and giggled a little when she remembered what it was. The club was doing a special for spring where she had to dress up like a sexy bunny rabbit and dance in an Easter scene. She wondered to herself if Bunnymund would be offended by the act, turning his holiday into something arousing. Flora thought it was fitting, knowing the correlation between symbols of Easter—particularly rabbits—and fertility. Though she knew Bunny would disagree. All dressed and knowing she had about twenty minutes before she had to be on stage Flora snuck out the backstage door with her friend Lorie so that Lorie could smoke a cigarette and not be alone in the dark alleyway behind the building.

"Where were you yesterday?" Lorie asked as she lit her cigarette. Flora wrapped her sweater tighter around her shoulders, looking nervously into the darkness just outside the glow of the light under which they took refuge.

"Umm…" she thought for a moment, turning her attention to her friend, "you know that weird disease going around?" Lorie nodded, taking a puff from her cigarette.

"Yeah, it's all over the news." She said with concern, "My niece has it. Luckily her older sister hasn't gotten it yet, but my brother and his wife are freaking out. The doctors have tried everything."

"Yeah, I've been working on treating it," Flora explained, "and I got a little…carried away. I just lost track of time." Lorie chuckled as she breathed in another puff of smoke.

"You don't lose track of time, Flora," Lorie said knowingly, jabbing her friend in the ribs with her elbow. "What actually happened? You're not telling me something." Flora sighed, there was no way to tell Lorie the truth so she just shrugged and looked down at her feet. "Oh my gosh! You met someone didn't you?" Lorie got suddenly excited and didn't seem to notice the sound of footsteps approaching through the darkness. Flora looked past her friend, squinting into the darkness, ready to run back into the safety of the club if she had to. "Flora!"

"W-what?" Flora jumped at the sound of her own name, looking at her now overly excited friend. Lorie was grinning at her with wide blue eyes.

"Tell me!" She demanded, "I want to know everything! What's his name? Where did you meet him? What's he like?" Lorie lowered her voice and leaned forward for the next question. "How's the sex?" Flora looked sideways at her friend.

"It starts with a B." Flora began answering Lorie's questions in order, hoping it would satisfy her, "In the park the other night. Brave. And there is none." Lorie slapped Flora's shoulder, playfully, making her double over with pain.

"Oh my gosh, Flora, are you okay?" Lorie tossed her cigarette and helped her friend stand up. "What happened to your shoulder?" Flora shook her head.

"Nothing, I busted it on a wall yesterday." Flora lied, holding the offending shoulder as it throbbed. Lorie then pushed her slightly and laughed.

"You liar," she said with a mischievous smile, "telling me there's no sex. You really think I'd believe that you missed a whole day of work researching a disease with a guy?" She laughed out loud and went to go back inside the club, but Flora stayed put. "You coming, Flora?" She shook her head.

"Come get me when we're about to start." Flora could see his outline in the shadows, and it made her stomach flutter. Lorie must not have seen him, because she followed Flora's gaze, shrugged, and shut the door. "How did you find me?" She asked, looking down at her feet and wrapping her arms around her middle.

"It wasn't hard, Sheila." Bunny stepped into the light, pointing at his own nose. "I'm no blood hound but you have a pretty unique scent." He smiled at her, but she wouldn't look at him. His smile faded into a look of concern as she came closer to her. He lifted her chin with his hand and looked her in the eyes with a soft smile. "I'm okay." He said comfortingly, "and you will be too." As she looked into his sparkling green eyes she couldn't help but smile, something about him filled her with hope and happiness.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "So, what are you doing here?"

"We thought that we should keep an eye on you," he explained, taking back his hand and a half step back from Flora. "Pitch knows what you're doing, he infected you to try and stop you, but he probably won't leave it at that." Flora nodded and looked over his shoulder.

"Where are the others?" She asked.

"They couldn't keep up." He smiled smugly and raised an eyebrow at the fake rabbit ears on top of Flora's head. "What are those for?" Flora giggled at the look of confusion on his face.

"It's part of my job to dress up in cute outfits," she explained, and jumped when the door burst open to reveal Lorie.

"Flora, get in here!" She obviously did not see the pooka that stood between her and Flora. Flora nodded and ran past Bunny, throwing off her jacket as she did, to reveal a revealing white rabbit costume, complete with a little cotton tail. Bunny felt his face burning, but felt compelled to follow quietly behind Flora.

He had no idea what he was getting into until he watched two or three half naked girls walk past him. Completely embarrassed he pulled his ears down over his eyes and snuck into a corner where he could safely watch Flora. She shot him a glare over her and he counted himself lucky that she wouldn't be able to yell at him around other people. At the same time he regretted having followed her, it had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Still, Flora looked adorable in her costume.

Flora could not believe that Bunnymund had followed her into the club. She was so angry when she hopped onstage that she almost forgot to smile. That rabbit was going to be in so much trouble when she finished her routine. As soon as it was over she shot him a dirty look that said, "follow me now", and lead him back out into the alley.

"You are such a pervert!" She hissed at him once the door was closed. "I did not tell you to follow me in! Don't you do that again, or I swear Pitch will be the least of your problems. Do you understand me?" Bunny nodded hurriedly, apologized quickly, and changed the subject.

"Look, Flora, I need to tell you something." Bunny suddenly became very serious, his voice dropping cautiously. "These night terrors that the sick kids are getting, they are turning into real monsters. Pitch is turning the things kids love most against them. Last night I…" he suddenly looked ashamed, looking down and away from Flora's gaze. "Sophie's night terrors are of me…I fought this horrible dark version of myself…and I lost." Flora could see the anger in his face, directed at himself, and couldn't help but feel sad for him. "This whole thing is a lot more dangerous than we thought. If pitch has a double of me, he probably has doubles of the others too…"

"You're right about that, rabbit," a dark voice came from the shadows and Bunny jumped protectively in front of Flora. Pitch stepped into the light, accompanied by Dark Bunnymund. The familiar red eyes and black fur made Flora's heart race, she felt panic rush through her body as she slowly backed away. "Look familiar, Flora?" Pitch grinned at the girl menacingly, "You know, I was quite surprised that this was what came from your night terror, I mean who really loves the Easter Bunny but children?" Bunnymund looked over his shoulder at Flora, whose terrified expression confirmed what Pitch said.

"Aye, Flora, look at me." He called to the girl behind him, "That thing is not me. I'm the real thing, and I am going to keep you safe. Trust me." He turned his head to smile encouragingly at her, his bright green eyes sparkling with confidence.

"Do you really believe that you can protect her, rabbit?" Pitch teased, "After all, you couldn't even protect yourself yesterday." Suddenly, from the darkness behind Pitch, a huge whip of black sand lashed out. Bunny ducked, but Flora wasn't fast enough. It wrapped around her waist and lifted her off of the ground, pulling her into the darkness.

"FLORA!" Bunny screamed, trying to chase after the whip. He was struck to the ground by a hard blow from Dark Bunny, who smiled down at him. Pitch stood beside him, looking triumphant. "Give her back!" Bunny's rage at the Nightmare King overtook him and he leapt off of the ground to tackle him, but was blocked by a new fighter. A dark grey beard rested on the large belly of the dark version of North, dressed all in black with deep grey skin. Behind him hovered a black and purple feathered Toothiana. All of their eyes glowed red as they looked down at Bunny with twisted smiles. Bunny looked past them, trying to find any sign of Pitch or Flora, but to no avail.

Filled with rage, Bunny leapt to his feet and readied his boomerangs. He stared down three Night Terrors; dark doubles of himself and his friends. Pitch had disappeared with Flora and it was because he was not strong enough to protect her, but he would not let her stay gone for long. As he prepared himself for battle there was a crash from behind him and a whip of golden sand lashed out to strike all three of the dark doubles to the ground. Sandy, Tooth, Jack, and North ran to Bunny's aid, weapons at the ready.

"Took you long enough." Bunny quipped with a smirk.

"Are these…nightmares?" Tooth asked, looking over the three creatures. "They look like us."

"No, they're Night Terrors," Bunny explained, "and they pretty much are us."

"No," North chimed with a smile, "they are not us. We are Guardians!"

"Not to mention there are two missing." Jack added, noticing that he and the Sandman were not present. "We can take 'em"

Sandy looked around curiously and shot a questioning look at Bunny.

"Pitch got her…" Bunny responded, feeling the rage fill his body at the thought.

"Well, then let's get her back." Jack said confidently. Bunny nodded with a smile and glared at the dark doubles before him. He would get Flora back, not matter how many Night Terrors he had to go through.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It started when the dark doubles rushed at the Guardians, who countered with a heavy hand. North and Sandy took on Dark North, taking him from both sides with whips to the back and heavy sabers clashing in front. Tooth took on her own double alone, but with the help of her baby teeth they easily overpowered her. Dark Bunnymund took on Bunny and Jack, holding his own with his speed and agility. It was difficult for Jack to finally hit him with an ice blast, but as soon as Dark Bunny found himself frozen to the spot her could no longer fight effectively. Now that Bunnymund had a clear shot he took out all of his anger on the Night Terror, punching him over and over again in the face, until he burst into a pile of black sand.

Jack looked on with worried eyes as his friend stood before him, hanging his head and breathing heavily. Something was bothering Bunny, he could tell, but he didn't know what to do about it. Jack placed a hand on his friend's heavy shoulder, slowly turning the pooka to look him in the eye.

"Bunny…what is wrong with you?" Jack asked with concern. Bunny looked down and eye, trying his hardest not to make eye contact.

"It was hers." Was all he could say; Jack furrowed his brow and followed Bunny's gaze to the pile of black sand and ice.

"The Night Terror?" Bunny nodded, shutting his eyes tightly. "It was Flora's?" Bunny cringed at the mention of her name, as though it caused him physical pain to think about it. "But…why would be afraid of you?"

"Because…we're friends" Bunny explained, "Pitch is trying to turn her against me…against all of us. Jack, we have to find her, there's no telling what Pitch is doing to her." Bunny clenched his fists, hating himself for letting her get taken in the first place.

"We'll find her, Bunny," Jack comforted his friend with a smile, "there's only one place she could be. We just need to find the new entrance."

::::::::::

Flora woke screaming, the same nightmare kept playing over and over in her head. When she opened her eyes and looked around herself, though, she found no comfort. She was in a huge shadowy chamber of grey stone, her hands and feet were bound, and she was still wearing her rabbit costume. She rolled her eyes, of course with her luck she couldn't be kidnapped while wearing normal clothes. As far as she could tell the chamber was empty, but she could hear a voice echoing in the distance. It was familiar enough that it made her start to panic; she knew exactly where she was now. She twister her body so that she could sit on her knees and attempted to scurry into a shadow, hoping that she could hide while she figured out how to escape. As soon as she started to move, though, an army of creatures rose from the shadows around her. Giant black horses surrounded her, braying and pawing the ground restlessly. Standing atop one horse Jack Frost pointed his staff threateningly at her. Flora stared at this all black version of Jack, his eyes glowing red as he glared down at her. From behind her a whip of black sand, like the one that had snatched her away from Bunny, wrapped itself around her neck to hold her in place. The Sandman, made entirely of black sand and with glowing red eyes stepped out of the shadows, holding the other end of the whip.

"What is all this commotion?" Pitch's voice rose above the excitement as the horses moved aside to let him through. When he saw Flora his expression changed to one of anger and he rounded on the creatures around them. "What did I say?! You stupid things can't do anything right!" Dark Sandy and Dark Jack withdrew with the black horses, releasing her from the grip of Sandy's whip. Pitch approached Flora with a smile, but she violently struggled to get away from him, scraping her legs up on the stone floor as she dragged her bare skin over it. "Now, now, Flora," Pitch cooed, easily catching up to her and grabbing the rope around her feet. "I promise," Pitch held up his right hand as though to swear an oath, "I will not hurt you, and I won't let them hurt you." He nodded at the creatures still hanging about nearby.

"I don't trust you." Flora growled, glaring at him dangerously. "Don't you touch me!" She kicked out, making him draw back.

"Flora, I don't want to hurt you," Pitch said patiently, "don't you think that if I wanted to harm you, you would already be harmed?" Flora narrowed her eyes at the Nightmare King suspiciously, wondering what he was playing at. "Let me prove it. Let me untie you." Flora slowly, cautiously, offered him her bound feet, which he untied and nothing more.

"What do you want from me?" Flora asked in a low voice, knowing that he must want something. This man had frightened her in a park, beaten up her good friend, spread a disease of fear, and poisoned her with that disease. She had no reason to trust him, yet here he was trying to convince her to do just that.

"I want you to hear me out." He walked around to her back to untie her hands, then stood and offered her his hand, which she turned down with a turn of her head. She remained on the ground, crossed her arms over her head and crossed her legs.

"Well," she said impatiently, "I'm waiting. Say what you have to say." Flora refused to look him in the eye, the sincerity in them was throwing her off and she could not lose her focus.

"I know you took a tincture this morning to keep your symptoms at bay," Pitch said as he began to circle Flora, who watched his feet with angry eyes. "I also know that in order to counteract my toxin, in order to cure it, you must know exactly what is in it, otherwise you are just fighting symptoms and unable to cure anything." Flora furrowed her brow, wondering how he knew all of this, but secretly glad that he had let it slip that it was a toxin. That meant that illness could be cured by a detoxifying tincture, rather than something that must fight bacterium of viruses, which would have been more difficult. Curing a poison is much easier than curing an actual living disease.

"You're correct, but somehow I don't see you giving me the recipe." Flora spoke to the floor as Pitch came to a stop behind her. She could feel him watching her, and at this moment she wished more than anything that she was wearing normal clothes. She pulled off the bunny ears atop her head and tossed them onto the ground before her, then wrapped her arms around her body.

"What if I were to make you an offer?" Pitch took a step toward Flora, who hunched over herself and drew her knees to her chest as he drew closer. "What if I were to tell you that the toxin I used on you has a special something in it that will change you as you become sicker."

"Change me how?" Flora felt her heart thumping against her ribs painfully as Pitch knelt behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and his lips just an inch from her ear.

"It will make you strong." His breath was hot on the side of her face as he whispered into her ear. "It will make it so that you no longer need protection from others, who will always leave you behind in the end." Flora stiffened, her heart jumped into her throat and her eyes widened. How did he know? She pulled herself out of his grasp and turned around in one fluid motion, her eyes filled with fear. "That's right, Flora, I know all of your little secrets. I know how every person in your life has left you behind at some point, and I know that you have only wanted to prove that you don't need anyone."

"H-how…" Flora choked the word out just barely, her body shook with fear as she stared into Pitch's pale yellow eyes.

"Nightmares say a lot about a person," Pitch smiled down at the girl, he could feel the fear oozing from her pores, hear the racing of her heart. He reveled in her terror, soaked it in. It was like a drug, knowing she feared him so completely, feeling the surge of power he got from her fear of him. "And yours, dear Flora, say that you have always been alone. They tell stories of a mother who left you behind in Ireland while she came to America to chase her dreams. They tell of two grandmothers who sent you off to live with your estranged mother because they could no longer handle you. And they tell of countless others, friends, lovers, who all left you behind." Flora was surprised by the tear that burned her cheek as it rolled down her face. Her soul ached with the truth of his words, and she wished that it was not true with all of her heart, but the reality was something she could not deny.

"You should mind your own business," Flora managed to say in a voice just above a whisper.

"You don't understand, Flora," Pitch smiled down at her with sad eyes, "my toxin will help you show all of those people who left you that you never needed them. You can exact revenge on all of those people with the power it will give you." Flora shook her head violently.

"That's not what I want at all!" Her thoughts turned to Bunny, his smiling face, and his green eyes full of hope. How comforted she felt when he was near. "I just want to be loved. I just want someone to need me. I don't want to be alone anymore…but you wouldn't understand that…"

"That is where you are wrong, young lady." Pitch reached out a hand to help Flora to her feet, which she looked at as though it may lash out and bite her. "I have been alone for hundreds of years. I was hoping that you could be the end to that." Curious, but still hesitant, Flora took Pitch's hand and let him pull her to her feet. "I am fear incarnate, I have never known love or friendship, and seeing your loneliness I simply wanted to end both of our suffering." He pulled her close to him and brushed some stray hair over her ear gently, smiling softly at her. "The problem is that you fear me, and as…wonderful as that makes me feel, it would not help us to be together."

"You nearly killed Bunny," Flora said, trying mostly to convince herself that he was still evil. "You have poisoned every small child in the world. You poisoned _me_." Pitch gazed into Flora's lively brown eyes and he could see the conflict within them.

"You're not still thinking about the Guardians, are you?" Pitch asked incredulously. "You know, they may come for you, but it is only because they need you to keep themselves alive. You see, if children stop believing in them they lose their power and they become invisible, and right now you are the only person who can help them keep children believing in them. Once all of the children are cured they will leave you behind, just like everyone else." Flora looked away from Pitch, knowing in her mind that he was right, but her heart still held a glimmer of hope as Bunny's face flashed through her thoughts.

"No." Flora said simply, stepping back from Pitch's embrace. "They won't abandon me, and they aren't so selfish that the children are only something to keep them powerful. They care about the children…and they care about me." Pitch became frustrated and glared dangerously at Flora.

"Are you really that ignorant?" He said harshly. "You said it yourself, Flora. When this is all over they will go back to their world, and you will be stuck here. Alone." Flora's eyes widened as she remembered her own harsh words.

"You…you were there?" Flora asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"As soon as I found you again I was not about to let you out of my sight." Pitch explained his tone angry. "Unlike everyone else _I_ will not leave you behind." His gaze and his voice softened as he drew her close to him once again, this time with little resistance on Flora's part. "I swear I will never leave you behind, I will never abandon you, if you will just give yourself to me."


	8. Chapter 8

**Before we begin the next chapter I just want to thank all of my followers and reviewers and anyone who reads and enjoys my story. Y'all are awesome!**

**Chapter 8**

May.

Bunny sat in the center of Flora's living room, trying to refresh the scent of her in his nose, but it was even fading from here by now. The scent of Lavender and dew covered grass, so fresh and clean and relaxing, barely reached him. He had been searching tirelessly for almost a month now, but there was no sign of Flora or Pitch. The others were starting to lose hope, but it was his job to keep hope alive, so here he was exhausting his only resource. He walked around her apartment, observing all of the small things that she had left lying around, skimming the titles of the hundreds of books sitting on her wall of bookshelves. She had a lot of poetry, a lot of antique books, but only one book had the honor of sitting beside a large arm chair in a secluded corner of the apartment. There were colorful tabs sticking out of the book, marking favorite poems. Bunny opened to one of the tabs and read the poem to himself.

LOVE IN A LOOK

Let me but feel thy look's embrace,

Transparent, pure, and warm,

And I'll not ask to touch thy face,

Or fold thee in mine arm.

For in thine eyes a girl doth rise,

Arrayed in candid bliss,

And draws me to her with a charm

More close than any kiss.

A loving-cup of golden wine,

Songs of a silver brook,

And fragrant breaths of eglantine,

Are mingled in thy look.

More fair they are than any star,

Thy Topaz eyes divine—

And deep within their trysting-nook

Thy spirit blends with mine.

By: Henry Van Dyke

Bunny felt his heart flutter in his chest, recalling the sparkle in Flora's Topaz colored eyes. He thought about how few words they had actually exchanged, but how many looks they shared that felt like something more. Were words really necessary? Was what he felt for Flora something more, despite how short a time they had actually known each other? He had heard of "love at first sight", but he never gave it any thought, never thought it may apply to him. He thought back to that first night, seeing her in the moonlight and the fluttering in his stomach. The moment when she was in his arms and their eyes met before she freaked out at the fact that he was not exactly human. He remembered insisting that they take her to North's workshop, and still felt the warmth of her body in his arms. Then, when she woke up, the look they exchanged from across the room that had made his heart skip a beat. Could it be that in an instant he had fallen for her? Just from her amber gaze? Could that be why he felt so strongly about getting her back and keeping her safe?

Bunny replaced the book on the small table and continued wandering the apartment, searching for items that still held Flora's scent. He noticed a few dark stains on the couch where his battered and bloody body had been laid out and cared for, his wounds treated with urgency and loving hands. He passed by the bathroom, where he had fallen and seen Flora's face flush the most adorable shade of red. Her eyes always seemed to glimmer like starlight, the most beautiful things he had ever seen as they looked away from him in embarrassment. Heaving a burdened sigh Bunny stopped outside of Flora's bedroom. He had been avoiding it out of respect, but at this point it may be the only place that would still have a strong scent.

He pushed the door open cautiously and was overwhelmed with her scent. The air in her room as cooler than the rest of the apartment, and her sweet scent hung in the air. Bunny looked around curiously at the things that littered her room. Upon a dresser sat a small fountain and a photo of Flora with three other red haired women, each older than the last. He turned the photo around and read "Me, Mom, Granny, and Bubby", it was actually kind of impressive, four generations of women standing side by side looking healthy and happy. Bunny put the photo down and turned toward Flora's unmade bed, knowing that her scent would be all over the sheets, but feeling appropriately creepy for what he was about to do.

::::::::::

Flora woke a scream, her body shivering violently and the black dress she wore drenched in sweat. Pitch had been kind enough to supply Flora with everything she could want or need, all of which she had rejected, but Pitch would not have it. He insisted that she wear some real clothes, sleep in a real bed, and be as comfortable as possible, even though she had refused over and over to go along with his plan. She knew he was trying to bribe her, and she felt unbearably like Persephone, the wife of Hades. Pitch came forward from the shadows with a smile, patient and adoring as always.

"You know," he spoke softly as he approached her, "you could end it all now. The nightmares, the pain…if you would just let yourself go." Flora stuck up her nose and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "You know, you are going to change whether you want to or not," Pitch reminded her as he did every day, "it's just a matter of how painful you want it to be."

"Well, there's still a chance that I won't." Flora said stubbornly, keeping the Guardians in her mind.

"Flora," Pitch sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, "you have been here for a month now. If they were going to find you, they would have already." Flora felt a pang of hopelessness strike her heart, but she quickly beat it down. She would not give up. Even if the Guardians could not help her, she could not just willingly abandon the children of the world, who still lay sick in their beds.

"I have been abandoned and forgotten over and over in my life," Flora explained with a rising strength, "I am not going to do that to anyone, even if they wouldn't know the difference." Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose and stood tall above her.

"You know, Flora," Pitch turned toward her with a deep frown, "you can resist all you want. You can remain as noble as you would like. But the end result will be the same, and now that I have you here I can wait for as long as it takes." Pitch grabbed her chin roughly and looked her over hungrily, "It's only a matter of time, Flora, of which I have an endless supply."

::::::::::

"Bunny, what are you doing?" Jack's voice came from the doorway of Flora's bedroom and Bunny jumped off of the bed, dropping the small stuffed rabbit which he had found hidden under her pillow.

"U-uh…n-nothing." Bunny said nervously, his face burning with embarrassment.

"Look, we all miss her," Jack said with sadness laced in his voice as he entered the room and picked up the toy. "But you haven't rested for more than a few hours in the last few days. Are you okay?" Bunny looked down at his feet and thought about it, even though he already knew the answer.

"I need to find her, Frostbite," Bunny said, sitting back down on the bed, running his paw over the soft sheets. "I let her get taken on my watch…"

"It's more than that, isn't it?" Jack observed, handing the pooka the patchwork bunny rabbit.

"There's something about her…" Bunny trailed off, looking down at the stuffed toy in his hands. The poor thing was missing one button eye, his hears were frayed at the tips, and the stitches on his back were coming undone. Flora had loved this toy for who knows how long, and though that love was wearing him thin he stayed smiling. "I need to find her so…so that I can figure out what it is…"

"Okay…" Jack nodded, seeing the look of longing in Bunny's eyes, and smiled. "Well I think I've found the new entrance to Pitch's lair. A cave just off the coast with stuffed animals hanging by their necks at the entrance." Bunny gave Jack a look of disgust, but Jack could only shrug. "It's either some kids messing around, or it's Pitch. That's why I came to get you." Bunny stood from the bed and used a leather strap to tie the patchwork rabbit to his boomerang quiver; he felt the little guy deserved to come along for the ride.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Curled up in a ball, clutching her chest in one hand and her head in the other, her face resting in a pillow, Flora tried her hardest to stifle her cries. The sharp pains tore at her from the inside, she could feel it in her ribs, almost feel them cracking and breaking inside of her. She coughed violently as the pain crept up her throat through her diaphragm. A blunt and throbbing ache invaded her skull, shooting down her spine rhythmically with her rising heartbeat. She screamed into the pillow, her face soaked with tears of anguish, hoping that Pitch could not hear her. She would not admit to him how badly she was suffering every time she remained awake, and she refused to speak of the terrible nightmares that plagued her as she slept. It was pure torture, resisting, fighting, and pushing back at this disease that threatened to consume her. She could find no rest. Her whole body ached and her mind was exhausted from repeating the same words of comfort over and over again. Part of her knew it would be easier to give in, let the pain have its way with her, let the dark thoughts consume her, but she could not give in. Not before she could tell the others how to heal the children. Not before she could look into those emerald green eyes one more time.

But she did not know how much longer she could hold on…

::::::::::

The Guardians approached the cave and grimaced at the sight of a dozen stuffed animals hanging morbidly by their necks from a wooden beam across the top of the entrance. Pitch had an impossibly dark sense of humor, it seemed, using something that represented childhood innocence as a means of deterring humans from invading his space. Bunnymund lead the way into the darkness, followed closely by North and Sandy, in the middle Tooth and her Baby Teeth, and bringing up the rear Jack Frost held his staff ready for a fight. Once it was too dark to see North pulled out a special snow globe which glowed brightly when shaken, then handed it off to a group of Baby Teeth who took it, but looked terribly frightened.

"Don't worry, Baby Teeth," Jack soothed them with a snow white smile, "I promise I'll keep you safe." The Baby Teeth swooned before Jack's grin, only to be scolded softly by Toothiana.

"Now, girls, we have work to do," She said, wagging a finger at them, "get to the front so that Bunny can see where we're going." As the Baby Teeth nodded with determination and flew hurriedly to the front of the group, Tooth and Jack exchanged a telling look before looking away from each other bashfully.

"Bunny," North spoke in a careful whisper, "can you tell if she is here?" Bunny sniffed the air, his nose twitching and the corners of his mouth curving upward when the familiar scent floated to him on the chilled air. Lavender and dew covered grass.

"She's here alright." Bunny said with a smile, knowing now that he could find her. He would get to her now no matter what it took, now that he was so close. His pace increased as the scent became stronger, but it seemed that the deeper they went into the cave, the stronger the darkness became. The amount of light coming from the snow globe seemed to diminish with each step they took. Bunny only stopped when he could no longer see, but only momentarily as his ears twitched toward a familiar voice. In the darkness he bounded forward, following the echoes of the voice through the cave until he came to an open chamber, lit dimly with candles upon the walls. Bunny froze when he came face to face once again with himself, but this time he was ready.

He drew his boomerangs and his doppelganger mirrored him in perfect time. They began circling each other, observing each other, trying to calculate their next moves. Bunny threw a boomerang to test the waters, and the dark double mirrored his action perfectly as they dodged each other's attacks and caught their returning boomerangs. Bunny stared down Dark Bunnymund for what seemed like forever, trapped in a checked position and looking for a way out. Finally they lunged at each other, throwing and blocking punches and kicks in what looked like a perfectly choreographed dance. When Bunny decided that he would not get a hit in he backed off, as did his doppelganger. Another long moment passed in which Bunny was thinking frantically, considering his options, thinking about what his next move should be, when suddenly it hit him. His next move should not be _his_ next move. If he wanted to defeat himself he would not be able to think or to fight like himself. He would have to change his strategy and fighting style completely.

Bunny sheathed his boomerangs and stood straight up, recalling a fighting style he had learned but never utilized. If his theory was correct, and the Night Terror, as an extension of someone's nightmares of him only had the powers that that person had knowledge of, then this should work. He removed the quiver from his body, set it on the floor by his feet, and leapt into a roll, spinning wildly on his head. When he felt his feet connect with his dark double's face he smiled to himself and jumped back to his feet. He watched his double stagger and regain his composure, and prepared himself for the retaliation.

Capoeira was a Brazilian martial art that he had learned long ago and kept in his back pocket. Mixing power and speed with sweeping kicks and moves that come at your opponent like a tornado, too fast to avoid and too powerful to counter, it was his ultimate weapon. Being a rabbit, he already had the speed and the lower body strength to make every move count; it utilized his most dangerous weapons: his powerful legs.

Blow after blow connected with Dark Bunny's head and body, and he it wasn't long before he was on the floor. Bunny stood above his dark double, glaring down at him with disgust. There was no replacement for the real thing, and there was no way he would allow some cheap imitation beat him twice. He gave the double one last powerful kick to the face, sending an explosion of black sand into the air. As soon as the creature was gone the chamber seemed to become brighter and Bunny heard the other Guardians stumbling about in the darkness, coming to join him.

"Aye, ya Gumbies!" Bunny yelled impatiently as they all came bumbling into the chamber, being as loud as they possibly could. "Will you be quiet, we're not there yet." With that the group straightened up and followed Bunny's lead, each of them looking questioningly as the pile of black sand that lay by the exit as they passed it. Jack was tempted to ask, but he could tell that Bunnymund was even more serious than before, his eyes locked on the darkness before them with blind determination. Bunny was on a rampage, and Jack pitied anyone who got in his way.


	10. Chapter 10

**I know this one is really short compared to my others, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Life is catching up with me so it might be a little while until the next chapter, but I promise I'll keep it going as quickly as I can.**

**Chapter 10**

Pitch listened with delight to Flora's cries of agony, she was losing strength, though he was surprised that she had lasted this long. Thirty endless days and nights filled with pain and fear, with no relief, not even for a moment. It would not be long before she gave in, then she would be his very own secret weapon. A monster, the very opposite of what she was today. It was perfect. A healer, a woman with knowledge of all of nature's gifts, would also have a vast knowledge of nature's evils. In this day and age nothing frightened the populace more than a disease which they could not control. She would ride a white horse and her name would be pestilence, and she would be his greatest creation. The nightmare of all of mankind.

Out of the shadows came Dark Jack, who did not speak, but communicated with Pitch. The Nightmare King flew suddenly into a violent rage, learning of the defeat of his strongest Night Terror, and the arrival of the Guardians. He ran through the shadows to his main chamber, shouting orders to his soldiers, and sending an onslaught of Night Terrors to greet the Guardians. He could not let them penetrate his hold, not yet.

::::::::::

Bunnymund heard movement in the distance, echoing through the dark tunnels before them. His ears stood straight up and he motioned for everyone to stop. North squinted into the darkness, trying to make out anything that could be moving. He held his sabers at the ready, and nodded back for the others to ready their weapons as he stepped past Bunny and into the darkness. The group watched at North's giant form disappeared into the blackness, and they all jumped when they heard a sudden crash. Then North came running back, calling to the others with a look of joy on his face. The baby teeth flew to the ceiling with the glowing orb to light the area as a flood of nightmares rushed at the Guardians. North turned on his heel to face one that was pursuing him and easily sliced it in half with a rumbling laugh. Tooth and Jack double teamed them, using her speed to wrangle a group of them so that Jack could take out four and five at once.

As hard as they fought the flood kept coming, and the Guardians were losing ground. Bunny and the Sandman stood back, surrounded on all sides and cut off from the rest of the group. In his mind Bunny kicked himself for letting his guard down, he should have known that his dark self would only be the first of many battles. They were, after all, on Pitch's territory where he automatically held an advantage. Sandy tapped Bunny on the shoulder and nodded at him, making the pooka smile knowingly as he ducked. Sandy formed a golden mini-gun from his dream sand and pepper the surrounding nightmares with a spray of golden bullets, which reduced them to literal dust. Bunny and Sandy exchanged triumphant grins, and Bunny was reminded that he was not in this alone. His friends were here and they all had tricks up their sleeves.

They would not retreat today.

::::::::::

Flora woke herself with a blood curdling scream. She had fallen asleep, exhausted from the pain, but only for a few minutes. Instantly she could feel the pain, it had spread to all of her bones. Every inch of her body ached intensely and she curled herself into a ball, some of her hair falling into her face. She glanced at it out of the corner of her eye and screamed, jumping to her feet and grabbing a handful to pull in front of her eyes. Her wild red hair had turned black. She felt her head grow light and her knees weaken.

"I told you that the transformation would take place with or without your consent," Pitch's voice came from behind her, making her whirl around. She became unexpectedly dizzy and nearly fell to the floor. Pitch caught her in his arms and carried her to the bed where he laid her out gently.

"Wh-what...am I..." Flora struggled to speak through the pain and the dizziness.

"You are becoming a nightmare. My very best one, I think." Pitch smiled down at Flora's ebony hair as it spread out like a dark halo around her head. She was finally showing signs of the change, and despite her resistance it would soon be done. All he had to do was keep the Guardians from reaching her in the meantime, which he would take great pleasure in doing.

"How m-much...much longer..."

"Only a few more hours if you keep resisting," Pitch grinned down at her, he could see the flecks of yellow starting to bleed into her amber eyes. "Only a few minutes if you choose to let it go."

Flora's vision began to blur, she could feel a burning sensation behind her eyes, but she found she could not muster the strength the move. _Bunny..._ she thought desperately, screaming in her mind as loudly as she could, _please hurry! I'll hold on as long as I can, but please! Hurry!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, so I lied...inspiration punched me in the face and forced me to continue, so here it is...**

**Chapter 11**

The Nightmare King stood over Flora's sleeping form, watching as inch by inch she changed. Her skin became pale, making her look as though she was made from porcelain. Three hours had passed and his nightmares were losing ground in the tunnels, the Guardians were advancing successfully. He could tell that they were almost at the main chamber, where they would be greeted by their doubles, all of whom had grown in strength. He was beginning to think he may no longer need them, though, as he watched the process of transformation speed up. He smiled as the last bit of color left Flora's face and her eyes began to flutter. She would wake soon. His new nightmare.

::::::::::

Exhausted after fighting off nightmares for hours the Guardians finally reached the end of the tunnels and stepped into a large, dimly lit, stone chamber. As they entered they watched as their dark doubles, black as night and each with red eyes glowing fiercely, rose from the shadows surrounding them. Collectively they gathered themselves and tried to muster a second wind, but all of them were immensely fatigued. North leaned on his saber, holding the other in the air weakly. Tooth hovered low to the ground, her fairies clung to Jack's sweater, barely able to hold themselves up. Sandy was able to muster his whips, but was barely able to swing them. Bunny was the only one who did not show that he was tired, but his muscles ached and his limbs were weak, and he wasn't sure how they were going to win against their fully charged doppelgangers.

"Look at you." A voice rang from all directions, sinister and triumphant. "You made it so far, fought so hard, and yet you still have trials ahead of you." Pitch stepped out of the shadows, his Night Terrors stepping aside for him. He grinned broadly, practically beaming at the desperately weakened warriors before him, and then threw his head back with a booming laugh.

"Where is Flora?!" Bunnymund growled, taking a step forward, gripping his boomerang tightly. Pitch stopped laughing very abruptly and his lips curled into the most evil smile that Bunny had ever seen; it send shivers up his spine.

"Flora is no more..." He said with glee, "She is GONE! You're TOO LATE!" Pitch spread his arms wide and laughed maniacally as a girl with black hair, yellow eyes, and sickly pale skin stepped forward. Her black dress hung loosely on her small frame and bunched slightly on the floor around her feet. It took Bunny a few moments to realize exactly who this girl was.

"Flora?" The air stilled and a heavy silence fell upon the chamber as Bunny stared into the vacant yellow eyes which stared right through him. He dropped his boomerang and ran forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her violently. "FLORA!" He called to her, making her eyes focus on his face. They were filled with a deep sadness as she looked at him, and he swore he could almost see the real Flora inside.

Suddenly he was thrown from her, tossed like a rag doll to the other side of the chamber. Pitch's laughter filled the chamber, echoing off of the walls and surrounding the Guardians. Flora lowered the hand she had used to push the pooka and began walking toward him, slowly and deliberately. Jack started toward Flora, ready to defend his friend, but Bunny called out to him.

"Stop! You take care of Pitch!" Bunny slowly managed to stand, staring Flora down as she closed in. "I've got her..."

Jack hesitated, then rounded on Pitch, who now stood safely behind his Night Terrors. Jack noticed instantly that Bunny's double was not there, but could not tear his eyes away from his own doppelganger, who launched at him and almost took him out. As the weakened Guardians struggled to hold off their Dark Doubles, Bunny struggled to get through to Flora. He stood before her, tall and powerful, but she easily tossed him about. He refused to fight back with anything but words, but she did not seem to hear him.

"Flora, please! I know you're in there!" He called, struggling to stand after being punched and kicked across the chamber multiple times. "Look at me woman!" He yelled, grabbing her arms as she went to throw another punch. "Look me in the eye and tell me the real you isn't still in there!" Flora pulled away from him, but refused to look in his eyes. He quickly grabbed her again and turned her body to look at the others as they fought. "Look, Flora. Look at them all. We have been fighting through Pitch's tunnels for hours trying to get to you. We searched non-stop for a month to find you. And now we're still fighting, even though we are exhausted and there's no way we'll win. We're not going to just leave you here. We are never going to abandon you."

::::::::::

_"...we are never going to abandon you..."_ a voice came softly through the darkness. The pain and the fear had finally subsided, but Flora could not see anything. Endless darkness surrounded her, but this voice, familiar and somehow comforting came to her ears. Desperate to find it she called out to it, but she had not voice. She tried once more, but to no avail.

_"Flora!"_ The voice came again, and a light appeared in the distance. Like a star in the sky, a pinpoint that shone brightly in the surrounding darkness. Flora reached out to it, trying to move toward it, but she could not feel her legs and could not get them to move. Suddenly a strong wind came rushing toward her, and she found herself in a cottage. A cauldron bubbled with a sweet smell, and she could hear her name being called from outside. She walked out of the cottage and into a sun drenched meadow, where three women stood with familiar smiling faces.

"Mommy!" Flora called out and ran to the youngest of the women. Flora felt an overwhelming sadness as she approached the woman, who knelt and took her into her arms and held her in a long, loving embrace.

"Flora," The woman said finally, releasing the little girl and smiling at her with sad eyes. "My dear girl, mommy has to go now." Flora looked around at the solemn faces around her, noticing for the first time the bags sitting behind her mother. Flora shook her head violently, feeling tears burn behind her eyes and overflow onto her cheeks.

"No! Mommy, why are you leaving?!" Flora cried desperately as her mother stood.

"We talked about this, Flora," the woman said with a low voice, standing above the little girl. "Mommy has to go to America for school. A very good school has accepted me, and now I must go there to learn about animals."

"You can learn about animals here, Mommy!" Flora cried desperately, grabbing onto her mother's pants leg tightly. Her mother said something to one of the older women, who nodded and grabbed Flora. Flora flailed in the woman's arms, screaming and crying as she watched her mother gather her things.

"I'll be back in the summer, Flora," Her mother said as she walked away, "I promise..."

The scene went back to blackness and Flora could still feel the overwhelming sense of abandonment. Her mother had not returned that summer, she recalled bitterly, or the following summer. She was three when her mother left Ireland, and she did not see her mother again for nearly ten years. Not one had she felt the need to return for a single summer, even though every year on her birthday Flora would ask her mother to come home that summer as her gift. Every year she was disappointed until the year before she was put on a plane to join her mother. That last lonely year she spent without a single word exchanged with her mother, who apparently believed that getting her doctorate was more important than speaking to her only daughter.

Another scene formed before her eyes:

A twelve year old Flora stood with her Grammy and her Bubbie in an airport terminal. Flora held her stuffed rabbit by the ears as she glared up at the women who had taken care of her for the previous nine years, and they could only look away.

"I can't believe you're doing this!" Flora was saying angrily, "I don't want to go to America! I want to stay here and keep learning from you!"

"But you'll be with your mother." Her Bubbie said with a weak smile. "Besides you don't want to stay here with a couple of old biddies like us, now, do you?"

"I don't care! I don't want to be with my mother!" Flora held back tears through her anger and frustration. "I haven't spoken to her in a year. I haven't seen her face since I was three and now out of the blue she thinks she can just summon me and I'll run back to her? This isn't fair!" A voice on a speaker called for passengers to board the plane.

"It's time for you to go, Flora." Grammy said with a finality that broke Flora's heart. Bubbie looked down at her feet as she and Grammy turned away from Flora, who grabbed her things and watched with burning eyes and a heart filled with anger, as they disappeared into the crowd.

_"Flora, please come back..."_ the voice rang in her ears again as the scene went black. _"...they need you..."_

_Who needs me?_ Flora thought, trying to recall the voice and who it belonged to. There was a flash of green and Flora looked up to see the pinpoint of light had grown, as though it was closer. She tried to reach it again as the voice echoed in her mind, wanting desperately to find whomever the voice belonged to. Another flash of green, this time slow enough that she could make out eyes. But who did the eyes belong to?

_"No!" _The voice was suddenly loud in her ears and a vision flashed before her eyes, _"FLORA!"_ Bunnymund stood before her for a flash, fear and desperation filled his emerald eyes; he was reaching out for her, his body looked battered as Sandman stood in front of him and Jack pulled on him from behind.

Back to darkness, Flora struggled to understand what she had just seen. Those emerald eyes. She remembered them so clearly. Memories flashed around her, memories of happiness and hope. She looked up at the light, no longer a pinpoint, and quickly closing in. She wanted, no, needed to see those emerald eyes again, to feel the happiness and the hopefulness and the love that they brought. She reached out for it, almost able to feel her legs, trying desperately to grasp it.

::::::::::

Flora had beaten Bunny to a veritable pulp, leaving him broken and bloody, worse than when he first fought the Night Terror, but her would not stop calling her name. Even as Sandy and Jack stepped in to protect him, even in his battered state, he protested as they began to attack her. The Sandman wrapped a whip about her waist and tossed her into a wall, stunning her temporarily, and Bunny ran to her side despite Jack's effort to keep him away from the girl.

"FLORA!" He lifted her into his arms as her eyes began to open and he prepared for another onslaught of attacks. Instead glittering topaz greeted his eyes and smiled up at him weakly. Flora reached up to touch Bunny's furry cheek and Bunny felt his heart skip a beat at her touch.

"Bunny..." her voice was a whisper, and he could see the struggle in her eyes. Flora gasped as pain rushed through her, the poison in her had not been defeated and it fought back as she struggled to stay with Bunny. Bunny filled with panic as he watched Flora writhe in his arms, obviously in massive pain.

"What should I do, Flora? What's wrong?" Bunny's heart raced as Flora gritted her teeth against the pain and looked at him with determination.

"H-help...the children..." She rasped. Flora knew she could not fight it off forever, knew she would succumb to the poison again, and did not want to waste any time. Now was her chance to stand by the children she had vowed not to abandon. She would help them, even if she could not physically be there. "In my...apartment...a diary...1692...August...a recipe." Flora groaned as her body twisted against the pain, and was surprised to feel Bunny's arms tighten around her.

"Sshhh..." he soothed, his warm breath on her ear, "Don't say anymore." Bunny did not want her to tell him anything else. He wanted her to pretend that she would be okay, that she had won against whatever had changed her. An unfamiliar ache filled his chest as she pushed him away lightly and smiled knowingly up at him.

"A-add...Kava...kava..." Flora felt another wave of pain overwhelm her, but this time she did not fight it. She let it crash upon her like a wave and envelope her. This time, though, instead of succumbing to darkness, she kept the light in her sight. As she felt her body becoming stronger, she also found another presence in the darkness of her mind. The embodiment of her fears stood before her with a sinister grin.

"I know you." Flora said confidently, but it did not speak. It swayed from side to side, smiling, and humming a familiar tune. A lullaby that her mother sang. "I'm not going to fight you anymore...but I'm not letting you have my body." Flora mustered the strength to punch her fears square in the jaw and took over her body as quickly as she could before it came back.

Flora suddenly jumped out of Bunny's arms, surprising him and everyone. Pitch's laughter filled the chamber once again as his creature appeared to come back to life. His laughter quickly ceased when he saw where she was going.

Through a tunnel hidden in shadows, with everyone close on her heals, and Pitch screaming at her angrily. She knew what she was doing. She had woken up there, and she knew that the fall would not have any mercy on her. She came to a stop at the edge of the pit. She could not see the bottom, but she knew it was there. She turned slowly to face everyone, Guardians, Nightmare King, and Bunny. She knew that they had not abandoned her, and it filled her with joy, but as another wave of pain made her twist violently she knew she could not waist any time.

Flora smiled softly at Bunny, mouthed the words "I'm Sorry" and let herself fall.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

E. Aster Bunnymund sat beneath a wisteria tree in his warren, looking down at the small patchwork rabbit in his hands. He did not feel the warmth of the sun, nor hear the singing of birds. Sparkling Topaz flashed through his memory, and it still made his heart ache. He did not notice the chill that descended on the warren as a certain frosty spirit arrived, and he did not look up as that spirit sat beside him on the grass. Jack Frost had been here almost every day since Flora sacrificed herself to save the rest of them. He could still recall the feeling of despair that overcame him as she let herself fall, and the flash of hope when there was no crash. But she did not come rising from the ashes like a phoenix, she simply disappeared. Secretly Bunny had hoped that she had found a way out, survived the fall and vanished. He had gone to her apartment repeatedly; even after they had found the recipe she had told him about, even after they had spent days collecting the ingredients and making the potion, and even after they had administered the cure and watched all of the sick children wake from their terrible slumber, he had returned to see if she had come back. But she had not. And after a few months people started cleaning out her apartment, taking all of her precious things and either selling them and throwing them in a dumpster. Bunny was able to save her patchwork rabbit and the book of poetry which had remained on the table beside her armchair, undisturbed until then, waiting just as he was for Flora to return.

"You know..." Jack's voice broke through the silence cautiously, "Easter is coming up...shouldn't you be painting eggs?" Bunny placed the stuffed toy down at the base of the the wisteria tree, right beside the leather bound book of poetry, then heaved a heavy sigh.

"I know...but..." Bunny hung his head low, unable to put words to his feelings. He had never had the chance to figure them out, never had the chance to know what those Topaz eyes held for him, so how was he supposed to know what this feeling eating him alive meant?

"Bunny, you once told me that Easter is about new beginnings." Jack placed a cold, yet comforting hand on Bunny's shoulder and smiled at him warmly. "I know it has been almost a year, and I know she was...special...but it's time for a new beginning." Bunny looked into the icy blue eyes of his friend and finally felt a smile come to his face. He nodded. Easter was about new beginnings, and hope for a fresh start. It was time for him to make a fresh start and bring new hope to the children that Flora had fought so hard for.

::::::::::

The night before Easter Sunday the Sandman floated contentedly upon his golden cloud of sand, bringing dreams of joy to the children of the world. In the dark of the night, under the watchful eye of the Man in the Moon, they slept without the fear of nightmares or sickness. Of course, all children become ill at some point, it is a sad fact. Like the poor little girl who tossed and turned in her bed tonight, her head hot with fever, and he throat hoarse from coughing. Her parents had taken her to the doctor, but could not afford the medicine she needed, so they had taken her home and tucked her in, hoping that the illness would pass over.

Sandy looked down at her with sad eyes, and jumped when he noticed a flash of color fly through her window. Suspicious, Sandy floated down to her window and looked into her room, whip at the ready. In the girls room, floating over her sleeping form, a beautiful spirit with fire red hair, dressed in a flowing gown of colorful plant life placed a hand on her forehead. Instantly the girl began to change, her skin went from flushed to healthy in a moment, and her breathing calmed. Once the healing was finished the spirit looked over at Sandy knowingly and smiled.

The Sandman grinned happily, recognizing the topaz eyes that sparked in the moonlight. He began to jump up and down excitedly and made a motion for the spirit to follow him before he flew into the sky, ready to tell the others of the wonderful news. The spirit followed him, cut him off and brought him to her eye level. She smiled softly and pressed a finger to her rose red lips.

Then, with a wink and playful smile, the spirit was gone.

_*This chapter is short mainly because it is a transition chapter, please forgive the briskness of it. Hope you enjoyed!*_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The Sandman stood in front of North, desperately trying to get his attention, but the large man could not be bothered to look down for one moment. Sandy tried forming a life sized replica of what he had witnessed, but a yeti walked through it before North could turn to see it. He tried jumping up and down, waving his arms, and jingling an elf, but North clumsily missed it all. Finally, becoming hugely frustrated, Sandy yanked on North's pants leg and when the man turned around he pulled on his long white beard until he was at eye level. With a stern look on his face he pointedly formed the symbols and the face that would tell North exactly what he had seen. North paused, looked at Sandy with wide eyes for a long moment, and then threw his head back with a laugh.

"Sandy, there is not spirit who heals children." North said matter-of-factly, smiling down at the little man who sneered at North's lack of understanding. "If there were…" North's face became solemn as he recalled the lost comrade. "Then Flora would not have gotten involved." Sandy rolled his eyes and waved his arms, getting North's attention again.

Above his head Sandy slowly and pointedly formed Flora, then an equal sign, and then the spirit he had seen. North pondered it a bit, his eyes narrowed and one hand stroking his beard thoughtfully. Finally he burst into an explosion of booming laughter that filled the entire workshop. He scooped Sandy into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Sandy! Why did you not say so in first place?!" Then he placed the exasperated little man back onto the ground and turned his attention to the moon. "You are crafty, my friend! Very crafty!" Turning around once more and waving at the Sandman hurriedly, he started toward the elevator. "Come! We will find her!" But he was stopped in his tracks by the sudden appearance of a young woman, her skin the color of milk and honey, her hair fire red, and her long gown made of vines and flowers billowing out around her.

"There's no need, North." The woman said with a soft smile, her voice was like running water the way it washed over and instantly cooled him. "Now, please, we must talk."

::::::::::

Jack sat at the edge of one of many balconies at the Tooth Palace, his feet dangling over the edge as he absently listened to Toothiana hurriedly shouting orders to her fairies. His mind wandered to Bunny, who had been able to get through the day, but just barely. Jack could tell that Bunny was trying, but that mysterious something about Flora would not let him rest. It was so sad that Bunny should cling to something that never was, and probably never could have been. After all, Flora had been a normal person, and when everything was said and done she would have had a life to live which did not involve the Easter Bunny. Jack sighed heavily, but couldn't help but smile when he felt Tooth's hands on his shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, tickling him with her warm breath on his neck.

A real romance, he thought, could only happen between two who are of the same world. Even though Flora had been able to see Bunny there was no evidence to suggest that she would have been interested in him. After all, most grown women don't fall in love with Pookas. Even if she had been an exception, even if she had been interested, it never could have worked. How would she explain to real men that she was not available? 'I'm sorry, but I'm dating the Easter Bunny'? Jack knew that Bunnymund should know all of this, yet the pooka would not let it go.

"What's on your mind, Jack?" Tooth said softly, her face a little concerned. Jack reached up and grabbed her hand, turning to her with a warm smile.

"I'm just worried about Bunny." He explained. "He took Flora's death really hard…he was almost too distracted to take care of Easter." Tooth released him and sat on the ledge beside him.

"I noticed that too," She said as she took Jack's hand in hers. "Bunny has never been in love in his entire life, Jack, and for the first time he felt something like what you and I feel. If I were him, I would cling to that feeling with all of my might."

"But…they barely spent any time together," Jack said, "you and I are still getting to know each other, still growing. How could Bunny have fallen in love so quickly?"

"Let me but feel thy look's embrace," a soft voice echoed around the pair, feminine and fair, as it recited the verse. "Transparent, pure, and warm; and I'll not ask to touch thy face; Or fold thee in mine arm. For in thine eyes a girl doth rise; arrayed in candid bliss; and draws me to her with a charm; more close than any kiss." Footsteps behind them made Jack and Tooth jump to their feet, but they instantly froze when they saw the figure before them. Like spring incarnate she stood before them robed in greenery, her rose red lips smiling at them joyously. "I knew from the moment I met you that there was something between the two of you."

"B-but…how…?" Jack's eyes were wide with astonishment and his grin stretched from ear to ear. The words had left his lips, but he did not care how or why. Tooth could only stare with her hands over her mouth, lost in confusion and glee.

::::::::::

Easter was over successfully, every egg had been hidden and subsequently found, and now Bunny found himself in the same place that Jack had found him the day before. As the sun set in the distance he felt his heart begin to sink with it. With the last light of day Bunny lifted the leather bound book of poetry into his lap and flipped to one of the poems that he had been reading every day since he had taken the book. He read it aloud to himself, feeling the meaning of the words as he recited them. Whoever the man was who wrote these poems, he thought, that man had to have known Bunny's pain.

"I envy every flower that blows, along the meadow where she goes, and every bird that sings to her, and every breeze that brings to her the fragrance of the rose." This poem was titled 'A Lover's Envy' and Bunny found himself feeling every verse in the pit of his stomach and the aching of his heart. "I envy every poet's rhyme that moves her heart at eventime, and every tree that wears for her its brightest bloom, and bears for her the fruitage of its prime." Bunny's nose twitched as a familiar scent drifted over to him, giving him pause for a moment before he shook it away. Only a dream, a distant memory, could have conjured that scent. He continued. "I envy every southern night that paves her path with moonbeams white, and silvers all the leaves for her, and in their shadow weaves for her a dream of dear delight."

"I envy none," a voice came from close behind him to recite the final verse, a voice so familiar and yet so strange. It made Bunny's fur stand on end, his heart and stomach begin to flutter, and his whole body shiver. "whose love requires of her a gift, a task that tires: I only long to live to her, I only ask to give to her, all that her heart desires." Bunny turned around slowly, fearing that he would see nothing, and praying that it was not a dream.

There, standing above him with her sparkling topaz eyes, her wild hair forming a fiery halo around her soft pale face as she smiled down at him was something very real. She knelt down and placed a hand on his cheek, her warm touch was familiar and foreign and delightful and frightening all at once. Bunny found himself frozen before her, his gaze locked with hers. They stayed there, silent, for a moment that stretched for eternity. Finally, slowly coming back to himself, Bunny choked out the only word that he could manage.

"Flora?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Hello, Bunny." Flora smiled with restrained affection at the Pooka, her eyes sparkling like starlight in the orange light of the setting sun. "I see you saved some of my things." Bunny shook himself out of his trance, looking down at the book in his hands, and the patchwork rabbit by his feet.

"Oh...yeah..." He picked up the little rabbit and handed both of the items to Flora, his heart skipping a beat when her soft hands touched his. "I-I just thought they were...important to you."

"You were right." Flora said softly, looking down at the two precious items. "Thank you."

"W-well, I couldn't just leave 'em." Bunny began, feeling strangely nervous.

"No." Flora interrupted, her face suddenly solemn as she gazed up into his emerald eyes. "I mean...thank you...for finding me." Flora hugged her items close to her chest and bit her bottom lip, even in this new form he still affected her, and it made her nervous. "For not abandoning me. If it weren't for you I never would have had the clarity to..." She trailed off, letting the silence that surrounded them speak the words neither wanted to think.

"It killed me, you know," Bunny said firmly, his face still and almost angry as he looked pointedly at Flora's feet. "Watching you fall...I swear I thought I was dying. This whole year I felt like something was...missing."

"And you have no idea how sorry I am." Flora reached out and grabbed Bunny's arm, but he would not look her in the eye. "Really, Bunny, if there had been any other way...there was something inside of me, Bunny. Something sinister. I wouldn't have been able to get rid of it. It was a part of me, no longer a disease or a poison, but a living breathing creature which shared my body. The only way to defeat it was to destroy the vessel."

"We could have found another way together, Flora." Bunny argued in a voice just above a whisper, still staring down at Flora's feet.

"If you had seen that creature inside of me, Bunny," Flora felt a rage rise inside of her stomach, heating her whole body at the thought of that inhuman creature she faced within her own mind. "If you had laid eyes on that grotesque thing which my fears had birthed, you would understand." Flora placed her hands upon Bunny's cheeks and raised his face so that he was looking her in the eyes. "But it's over now. Now my new life begins. A life free of nightmares...and rent." Bunny let a solitary chuckle out, instantly lightening the mood as the moon rose slowly over the friends.

"You're right." Bunny smiled at the heavenly creature now gazing deeply into his eyes, looking apologetic. "What's wrong?"

"I know I only just got to see you, Bunny," Flora stepped back, taking herself out of arms reach, "but my new life comes with responsibilities. I will be back, though. A year is a long time, and we have a lot of catching up to do."

::::::::::

The shadows had been a lonely place in the past year, especially as the Nightmare King had struggled to recover his lost pet. That wretched girl had stolen the beautiful vessel from the creature, but Pitch would not be deterred. Just as the Man in the Moon had recovered Flora's soul, turning her into a soldier of goodness, a healing spirit, Pitch had recovered the darkness from that soul. His poison had stolen from Flora the dark side of herself, brought it to the surface and given it a mind of its own. Now it rose from the ashes, a dark, diseased phoenix.

Pitch smiled lovingly as the creature rose from the shadows in a writhing mass, formless at first, but slowly becoming solid. It became whole in the darkness of that night, the deformed creature born of the fears of a human being. Not a nightmare, nor a night terror. Those things were born of the fear and imagination of children. This creature was flesh and blood, born of a human soul. In a way this was a much better weapon than Flora ever would have been. More powerful than she could have ever hoped to be. Without the goodness inside to hold it back, the creature could live as pure evil.

The creature was hunched over itself, its face decaying, its eyes so black that they looked like empty holes. It hobbled over to its master, who looked down his nose at the thing. It was truly hideous; not what Pitch had been aiming for, but it would have to do. After all, the beautiful creature he had chosen to house his pet had killed her physical body, meaning that the creature had to create its own body now. As time went on Pitch knew that the thing would become more human, would gather more fears, more darkness, more souls, and make itself into something worthy to call itself his pet.

::::::::::

Bunny lay on a hill in the warren, thinking about Flora, and watching the stars. Jack had been right after all, a new beginning had been made, and now Bunny could look forward to countless days with the woman who had haunted his dreams for the past year. He could spend as many hours as he needed to find out what that special thing was about her, that something that made his knees weak and his heart race. He was absolutely elated, and he thanked the Man in the Moon for seeing fit to bring her back to him. The Man in the Moon smiled down at his friend, and the young spirit who held his heart, though she had no idea. He also watched out of the corner of his eye as the other half of her soul began its journey to becoming whole. Pitch refused to give up, and now that he had his weapon there was no way Flora could stay neutral. She would have to become a Guardian, despite her youth as a spirit, and he could only hope that she would be ready when the time came.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the long wait, life and writer's block had me by the neck. But I present you with a new chapter! Hope it was worth the wait.**

**Chapter 15**

Flora descended upon the warren with excitement in the pit of her stomach. She was ready to spend her day with Bunny, ready to finally have some time to get to know him. She had admired him before, even desired him, but only because of what she could observe. Now she wanted to know what he held inside of himself, his thoughts, his dreams, and the hopes of which he had been deemed the protector. She found him sleeping under the Wisteria tree she had left him by, curled into a ball, his foot twitching slightly in his dreaming. Flora sat beside his sleeping form, smiling down and petting his head softly, not wanting to wake him. She had only seen him vulnerable like this once before, except this time he was not fighting for his life trying to heal from a brutal beating. This time he was completely at peace, even smiling.

His eyes fluttered open and he slowly woke, seeing Flora beside him and smiling up at her. He propped himself up on his elbows, and he almost forgot to stop himself from grabbing Flora's hand when she pulled it away. He wanted to press her hand back into the fur around his face. He _really_ just wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, taking in her scent, and not saying a word for hours. But he couldn't do that. He hardly knew the girl after all, and that would be wildly inappropriate.

"What are you doing here?" Bunny finally said, and immediately kicked himself. "I-I mean...not that I don't want you here...I just thought that maybe you'd have other things to do..." He came to sit on his haunches and ran a paw over his ears, pressing them to his head in frustration and embarrassment.

"I'm here to see you." Flora said frankly, ignoring his outburst and smiling so brightly that Bunny felt he might go blind. "I said that we have a lot of catching up to do. What better time to do it than right after Easter?" Bunny nodded and cleared his throat, relaxing a little and taking a small step toward Flora. He wanted to see how close she would let him get before she moved away, but immediately she ruined his plan by moving to sit at the trunk of the Wisteria tree. "Come sit with me." She said, patting the grass beside her and laying her possessions, the patchwork bunny and her book of poetry, on the ground on her other side. Bunny swallowed hard as he sat beside her, his heart racing.

"So..." he said, trying his very hardest to think of something to say.

"After you cured all of the children," Flora began, sensing Bunny's discomfort. She hoped that she hadn't made him very uncomfortable but she assumed that if he didn't want to be close to her he wouldn't be. "What did everyone do? Or...what did you do?" Bunny clenched his jaw. Should he tell her the truth? That he had spent every moment he possibly could in her apartment, clinging to the things that reminded him of her. Should he say that he had looked for any way to keep her scent fresh in his memory?

"Honestly..." He looked at the grass and plucked a few blades absently. "I didn't know what to do...I've only lost a friend like that once." Flora turned her head to the side and watched Bunny with sad eyes. "Sandy was taken by Pitch's nightmares once, and we mourned him just like we mourned you, but Sandy came back. He was never really dead, but you...it was permanent...or I thought it was." Flora hung her head in shame.

"You know I never meant to cause everyone so much pain," she said softly, her hands clenching her dress tightly, "I really was trying to do what was best." Bunny looked over and saw that Flora's wild autumn curls were hiding her face; he couldn't help himself. He reached over and moved her hair, tossing it over her neck to expose her pale peachy skin. He smiled at the look of her, her beauty was beyond anything he had ever seen, she was like an angel. He turned her chin so that she would look at him, and he smiled at her with forgiving eyes.

No words were exchanged, but the long look between them said everything that needed to be said. Bunnymund could not help himself as he began leaning forward slowly, as though something were pulling him. Their eyes were locked, their gaze speaking volumes, and Flora could feel gravity pulling her closer to Bunny. Her heart was racing and her stomach fluttering wildly, it was absolutely nerve racking. Suddenly her mind started racing as well, all of the things that could happen, every possible scenario and very few of them turned out well. The likelihood of this gravity being a good thing was slim, and she was not about to subject herself to that kind of thing ever again. So she forced herself to push Bunny away, physically shoving him as far as he would go.

"Stop." She said flatly, turning her head away from him and grabbing hold of her patchwork rabbit, holding it to her chest as tightly as possible. She needed the comfort of its constancy, even as a spirit she found she could not escape her past or the fears it brought on. "I'm sorry. I need time. Just time." Bunny nodded, wondering what it was he had done wrong. Everything had felt so perfect, so exciting, so wonderfully terrifying, and he had hoped that he was discovering that something about Flora which had embedded her in his mind.

"It's okay." He said softly, watching her as she rocked slightly back and forth, holding her stuffed rabbit so tightly Bunny thought the poor fellow may suffocate. "Why don't you just talk to me?" He suggested, earning a look of desperation. It became very obvious to Bunny in that moment that he had no idea who this woman was, and that he wanted to spend every waking moment learning about her. "Tell me about the rabbit." He suggested with a smile.

"The rabbit?" Flora felt herself relaxing, Bunny's emerald gaze penetrating her defenses so easily that it scared her to death. "Umm...it was a gift from my mother. She sent it back from the United States on the first Easter I spent without her. I've kept it ever since."

"Was he always so...patchy?" Bunny asked with a humorous grin. Flora chuckled.

"No. Of course not." She said, still feeling the awkwardness of her blatant rejection weighing heavy in the air, but Bunny seemed to be trying so hard to ignore it that she couldn't help but indulge him. "I have abused him quite badly over the years, so I had to patch him up with whatever I could find."

"Why have you kept him for so long, he looks like he's all patches now." Bunny pointed out as Flora looked into the black button eyes of her stuffed toy, petting his ears back affectionately.

"He's always been there." Flora said softly, her heart aching as she recalled all of the troubles that toy had seen her through. "I've always been able to count on him. The only one who never left me behind." _Except_, Flora thought, _for you, Bunnymund_.


End file.
